The Effect of Virtual Reality Education on Preoperative Anxiety, Postoperative Pain, and Sleep in Patients Undergoing Colon Surgery

This study will be conducted to investigate the effects of patient education provided through virtual reality in the preoperative period to patients undergoing colon surgery on preoperative anxiety, postoperative pain, and sleep. The population of this randomized controlled experimental study will consist of patients who will undergo colon surgery in the General Surgery Department of a university hospital after obtaining ethics committee and institutional approval. The population of the study will consist of patients who will undergo colon surgery in the General Surgery Department of a university hospital after obtaining ethics committee and institutional approval. The required sample size and power calculations for this study were made using the G*Power 3.1.9.2 program. A type 1 error of 0.05, a confidence interval of 90%, and an effect size of 0.72 (Uğraş et al., 2023) were calculated. In the calculation, 41 patients were calculated for each of the intervention and control groups, and the number was increased by 10% to account for losses, with 45 patients each, for a total of 90 patients. "Patient Information Form", "Surgical Anxiety Scale", "Richard Campbell Sleep Scale", "Visual Analog Scale (VAS)" will be used as data collection tools. After completing the "Patient Information Form" on patients who provided informed consent, the "Surgical Anxiety Scale" will be administered to patients in the intervention and control groups upon admission. The intervention group will receive training using a 3D animated patient education video prepared with virtual reality glasses. The control group will receive routine verbal education. Following the training, the "Surgical Anxiety Scale" will be administered a second time to patients. Postoperative pain and sleep assessments will then be conducted in both the control and intervention groups. Pain intensity will be measured with the Visual Analog Scale (VAS) at the 8th, 16th, and 24th postoperative hours for both groups. Postoperative sleep quality will be assessed with the "Richard Campbell Sleep Scale" at the 24th postoperative hour for both groups. IBM SPSS Statistics 22.0 will be used for data analysis and evaluation.

Inclusion criteria

• Patients who agree to participate in the study will be included:

They are undergoing surgery for the first time,

They have not received preoperative training,

They will undergo colon surgery,

They are over 18 years of age,

They are eligible for the Virtual Reality Discomfort Questionnaire,

They do not have claustrophobia.

Exclusion criteria

• Patients who have had multiple surgeries, Patients with head and neck, vision, or hearing problems that prevent them from wearing virtual reality glasses, Patients who had a stoma created during surgery, Patients who wish to withdraw from the study.