Recently, one of the PROSA-faculty members (Sharron van den Berg) published an article focused on the use of Virtual Reality with Hypnosis (VRH). The study aimed to investigate whether VRH could be an effective treatment in reducing pain and anxiety in children during needle-related medical procedures. The research was conducted at a hospital in the Netherlands and compared VRH with traditional Medical Hypnosis (MH) administered by trained healthcare providers.
Needle-related procedures can cause both pain and anxiety in children, which may lead to increased fear and discomfort during future procedures. The study involved 114 children aged between 6 and 18 years who were randomly assigned to receive treatment with either VRH or MH.
The research demonstrated that VRH is equally effective as MH in reducing patient-reported pain. Both treatments received high levels of patient satisfaction. In addition to patient-reported pain, other outcomes were evaluated, such as observer-reported pain, anxiety levels, blood pressure, heart rate, and side effects. The results indicated that VRH achieved similar outcomes to MH in these secondary measures.
The findings suggest that VRH can be a safe and effective alternative for reducing pain and anxiety in children during needle-related medical procedures, alongside MH. This discovery opens up new perspectives for pain management and the well-being of children during medical treatments.
The study is registered under ICTRP, trial ID NL9385, and was registered on April 3, 2021. The research presents promising results and paves the way for further applications of Virtual Reality Hypnosis in pediatric medical practice.
Link to the article: [https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s00431-023-05116-8]