Testing to see how virtual reality mindfulness and wellbeing session before and after cardiac surgery will help to reduce anxiety and stress

A Randomised pilot Study to evaluate the use of Virtual Reality Mindfulness and Wellbeing session during pre- and post-surgical admission to reduce anxiety and stress undergoing first time elective cardiac surgery – RSVR study

Status

Active, not recruiting

Phases

Unknown

Study type

Interventional

Source

ISRCTN

Registry ID

ISRCTN51014051

Enrollment

Registered

2024-01-05

Start date

2024-02-05

Completion date

Unknown

Last updated

2025-10-20

For informational purposes only — not medical advice. Sourced from public registries and may not reflect the latest updates. Terms

Conditions

Pre-and postoperative anxiety and stress in adult patients undergoing elective cardiac surgery Surgery

Interventions

Cardiac surgery patients (n = 30) undergoing first time elective/urgent-in-patient cardiac surgery at Wythenshawe Hospital site will be randomly assigned equally to two arms (control with placebo or V

Eligibility

Sex/Gender

All

Inclusion criteria

Inclusion criteria: 1. Adults undergoing first-time elective cardiac surgery (coronary artery bypass surgery and aortic/mitral valve surgeries) 2. Age more than 18 years 3. Give informed consent for their participation to this study 4. Urgent inpatients who are well enough to read and understand the study and patient information leaflet

Exclusion criteria

Exclusion criteria: 1. Psychiatric antecedents, claustrophobia or acrophobia, diagnosis or self-reported anxiety disorder, hearing or visual impairment, Infectious cases (example: conjunctivitis), redo surgery, critical preoperative state, impaired cognitive function, current diagnosis of epilepsy, dementia, or other neurologic disease, receipt of anxiolytic drugs or sedatives within the preceding 24 hours, or injury to the face, or non-infectious, infectious skin conditions that would prevent comfortable use of the VR hardware. 2. Patients who are having complex cardiac surgeries. 3. Patients who are admitted for an emergency cardiac surgery. 4. Patients who do not want to listen to music on their bedside Bluetooth enabled headphones. 5. Patients who do not want to wear VR headsets.

Design outcomes

Primary

Measure	Time frame
Patients’ anxiety and stress levels measured using STAI before and after each session on pre- and post-surgery	—

Secondary

Measure	Time frame
1. Cortisol swabs before & after each session on pre- and post-surgery 2. Physiological parameters pre- and post-surgery in each session: 2.1. Heart rate measured using Holter monitor which is standard in all cardiac wards at the NHS hospital 2.2. Blood pressure measured using Holter monitor which is standard in all cardiac wards at the NHS hospital 2.3. Respiratory rate measured using direct observation by the researcher	—

Measure

Time frame

1. Cortisol swabs before & after each session on pre- and post-surgery 2. Physiological parameters pre- and post-surgery in each session: 2.1. Heart rate measured using Holter monitor which is standard in all cardiac wards at the NHS hospital 2.2. Blood pressure measured using Holter monitor which is standard in all cardiac wards at the NHS hospital 2.3. Respiratory rate measured using direct observation by the researcher

—

Countries

England, United Kingdom

Contacts

Public ContactBhuvaneswari Krishnamoorthy

b.bibleraaj@salford.ac.uk+44 161 295 5060

Outcome results

None listed

Source: ISRCTN (via WHO ICTRP) · Data processed: Feb 4, 2026