Aims: Patients undergoing colonoscopy often experience anxiety related to bowel preparation, procedural pain, and fear of can-
cer, which can adversely affect their vital signs. This study aimed to evaluate the effect of virtual reality intervention on anxiety
and cardiac vital signs (including systolic blood pressure, diastolic blood pressure, mean arterial pressure, and heart rate) of
patients before the colonoscopy procedure.
Design: This study was designed as a randomised, controlled, and double-blind trial.
Methods: The sample of this study consisted of 70 patients undergoing colonoscopy in the endoscopy unit of the general sur-
gery service of a public hospital. Patients were randomly assigned to the groups (intervention group or control group) and were
evaluated twice before the colonoscopy procedure. Patients in the intervention group watched a relaxing video via virtual reality
glasses for 15 min between the first and second evaluation stages. The Visual Analog Scale for Anxiety was used to evaluate the
patients' anxiety levels before colonoscopy, while cardiac vital signs were evaluated using a digital sphygmomanometer.
Results: In the intervention group, anxiety level of the patients significantly decreased during the second evaluation stage
compared to the control group (p < 0.001). Additionally, systolic blood pressure, diastolic blood pressure, and mean arterial
pressure scores showed significant reductions in the intervention group at the same stage (p < 0.05). Although patients in the
intervention group had lower heart rate scores at the second evaluation stage, there was no statistically significant difference
between groups (p > 0.05).
Conclusion: Virtual reality intervention has an improving effect on patients' systolic blood pressure, diastolic blood pressure,
and mean arterial pressure. It is also effective in reducing patients' anxiety levels. Virtual reality intervention can be used as a
distraction method before colonoscopy procedure.
Patient or Public Contribution: In this study, patients actively participated in the process of evaluating their anxiety levels
and vital signs.
Trial Registration: ClinicalTrials.gov identifier: NCT06407531
This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs License, which permits use and distribution in any
medium, provided the original work is properly cited, the use is non- commercial and no modifications or adaptations are made.
© 2026 The Author(s). Nursing Open published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.
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