The Use of Virtual Reality as a Nursing Intervention for Anxiety in Patients with Cancer

Abstract

Distractions help to decrease anxiety, and virtual reality is a new form of distraction with the potential to relieve anxiety (Glennon et al., 2018). The use of virtual reality as a nursing intervention is a potentially effective way of decreasing anxiety in patients with cancer. However, there is currently insufficient empirical evidence regarding whether this nursing intervention is correlated with decreased anxiety in patients, which constitutes a gap in the current knowledge. This thesis aims to answer what factors need to be evaluated in order to fill the knowledge gap and determine if a correlation exists between the use of virtual reality as a nursing intervention and decreased anxiety in cancer patients. Nursing articles about the intervention of virtual reality for anxiety relief were found through the Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied Health Literature (CINAHL) along with set search terms and filters for relevancy.