The Effect of Virtual Reality Glasses and Stress Balls on Pain and Vital Findings During Transrectal Prostate Biopsy: A Randomized Controlled Trial

Abstract

Purpose: This study aimed to determine effect of virtual reality (VR) glasses and stress balls (SB) on patients' pain and vital signs during transrectal prostate biopsy.

Design: This experimental research was conducted using a pre or post-procedure randomized controlled model.

Methods: The study population consisted of 96 male patients who were admitted to the TRUS Unit of the Urology Department of a state hospital in southeastern Turkey for prostate biopsy. The patients were divided into three groups by block randomization as 32 for VR, 32 for SB, and 32 for the control group. A Patient Information Form and the Visual Analogue Scale were used to collect data. In data analysis, number, percentage, mean, standard deviation, chi-square, dependent group t-test, and ANOVA tests were used.

Results: Comparing mean values of pain and vital signs between the groups, there was no statistically significant difference in terms of pre-test mean scores (P > .05). After Tukey advanced analysis, we found that VR and SB significantly decreased pain, diastolic blood pressure, pulse, and respiratory rate and significantly increased oxygen saturation (P < .05).

Conclusions: We found that VR glasses and squeezing SBs during the transrectal prostate biopsy procedure reduced pain and positively affected vital signs.

Keywords: nursing; pain; prostate biopsy; stress ball; virtual reality.