The Effect of Virtual Reality-Based Intervention on Anxiety, Stress, and Pain in Women Undergoing Colposcopy: A Randomized Controlled Trial (Colposcopy)

June 10, 2026 updated by: Çiler ÇOKAN DÖNMEZ, Osmaniye Korkut Ata University
Due to its invasive nature, the colposcopy procedure can cause high levels of anxiety, stress, pain, and nausea in women. The uncertainty surrounding the condition to be diagnosed, combined with the discomfort caused by the procedure itself, creates significant psychological stress in women and can negatively impact their compliance with diagnosis and treatment. Therefore, it is believed that applying Virtual Reality (VR) technology-one of the distraction techniques-as a non-pharmacological method for women undergoing colposcopy could be effective in reducing pain and anxiety by diverting their cognitive attention away from the procedure's negative stimuli. Although there are many studies in the literature using VR technology, no study has been found that examines the effect of VR-based interventions on anxiety, stress, and pain levels in women undergoing colposcopy. Therefore, this study will be one of the first randomized controlled trials to examine the multidimensional effects of virtual reality (anxiety, stress, pain) in women undergoing colposcopy. The findings will contribute to the widespread adoption of non-pharmacological nursing interventions in clinical practice. The aim of this study is to comprehensively evaluate the effect of a virtual reality (VR)-based intervention on anxiety, stress, and pain levels in women undergoing colposcopy and to determine its efficacy compared to standard care.

Study Overview

Status

Recruiting

Conditions

Intervention / Treatment

Study Type

Interventional

Enrollment (Estimated)

60

Phase

  • Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

This section provides the contact details for those conducting the study, and information on where this study is being conducted.

Study Contact

Study Locations

  • Turkey (Türkiye)
    • Adana
      • Adana, Adana, Turkey (Türkiye), 01250
        • Recruiting
        • Çukurova University Hospital
        • Contact:
        • Sub-Investigator:
          • Esra Ünal, PhD
        • Sub-Investigator:
          • Ganim Khatip, Medical Doctor Prof

Participation Criteria

Researchers look for people who fit a certain description, called eligibility criteria. Some examples of these criteria are a person's general health condition or prior treatments.

Eligibility Criteria

Ages Eligible for Study

  • Adult
  • Older Adult

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

No

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

Be 18 years of age or older, Have colposcopy scheduled due to a cervical cytology result of LSIL, HSIL, ASC-US, or HPV positivity, Be able to read and understand Turkish, Provide voluntary written informed consent -

Exclusion Criteria:

Diagnosis of a mental disorder Severe visual impairment, claustrophobia, cognitive impairment History of severe motion sickness (cybersickness) associated with virtual reality use Use of anxiolytic/analgesic medication prior to the procedure Individuals with severe cognitive impairment or communication difficulties

-

Study Plan

This section provides details of the study plan, including how the study is designed and what the study is measuring.

How is the study designed?

Design Details

  • Primary Purpose: Supportive Care
  • Allocation: Randomized
  • Interventional Model: Parallel Assignment
  • Masking: Single

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm
Intervention / Treatment
Active Comparator: 30 control group
The control group will receive standard care.No intervention will be performed on the control group.
Other: 30 control group
Participants in the control group will not receive any additional interventions beyond the standard care provided at the colposcopy unit.
Experimental: 30 Intervention group
During the colposcopy, the intervention group will be provided with a nature-themed, relaxing virtual environment experience via SG glasses
Other: Virtual Reality-Based Intervention
During the colposcopy, the intervention group will be provided with a nature-themed, relaxing virtual environment experience via SG glasses

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Primary Outcome Measure
Time Frame: From before the colposcopy procedure begins until after it is completed
The Perceived Stress Scale consists of 10 items on a 5-point Likert scale and two dimensions. In our study, we used the 10-item version of the Perceived Stress Scale. Scores on the Perceived Stress Scale range from 0 to 40. A high score on the scale indicates a high level of stress
From before the colposcopy procedure begins until after it is completed
In this study, anxiety (DSKE-KF), perceived stress (PSS-10), and pain (VAS) were identified as co-primary outcome measures.
Time Frame: The virtual reality headset application will be launched immediately before the procedure begins, once the participant has been seated in the colposcopy chair and the preparation process has been completed, and will continue until the procedure is finish
The State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI), developed by Spielberger and colleagues in 1970 and adapted to the Turkish population by Öner and Le Compte in 1985, was revised by Zsido et al. (2020) to create a short form of the inventory by reducing the number of items. The short form is a 4-point Likert-type inventory consisting of a total of 10 items-5 for state anxiety and 5 for trait anxiety (Zsido et al., 2020; Öner and Le Compte, 1983). Individuals scoring 10 or higher on the DKE-KF and 14 or higher on the SKE-KF are considered clinically anxious.
The virtual reality headset application will be launched immediately before the procedure begins, once the participant has been seated in the colposcopy chair and the preparation process has been completed, and will continue until the procedure is finish

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Secondary Outcome Measure
Time Frame: The SG application will be initiated immediately before the procedure begins, once the participant has been seated in the colposcopy chair and the preparation process has been completed, and will continue until the procedure is finished.
The Visual Analog Scale (VAS) is a safe, easy-to-use measurement tool developed to determine the intensity of an individual's pain. The VAS consists of a 10-centimeter line with subjective descriptive labels at each end of the scale (0 cm = no pain and 10 cm = unbearable pain). The individual marks the point on this 10-cm line that corresponds to their own pain level. A low score on the VAS indicates that the individual's pain intensity is low or mild, while a high score indicates that the pain intensity is high or severe.
The SG application will be initiated immediately before the procedure begins, once the participant has been seated in the colposcopy chair and the preparation process has been completed, and will continue until the procedure is finished.

Collaborators and Investigators

This is where you will find people and organizations involved with this study.

Sponsor

Osmaniye Korkut Ata University

Publications and helpful links

The person responsible for entering information about the study voluntarily provides these publications. These may be about anything related to the study.

General Publications

  • 1. Baradwan, S., Alshahrani, M. S., AlSghan, R., Alyafi, M., Elsayed, R. E., Abdel-Hakam, F. A. A. M., ... & Badran, H. (2024). The effect of virtual reality on pain and anxiety management during outpatient hysteroscopy: a systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials. Archives of Gynecology and Obstetrics, 309(5), 1267-1280. DOI: 10.1007/s00404-023-07319-8 2. Dascal, J., Reid, M., IsHak, W. W., Spiegel, B., & Tanner, V. (2017). Virtual reality and medical inpatients: a systematic review of randomized, controlled trials. Innovations in clinical neuroscience, 14(1-2), 14-21. PMC (Tam Metin): https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC5373791/ 3. Deo, N., Khan, K. S., Mak, J., Allotey, J., Gonzalez Carreras, F. J., Fusari, G., & Benn, J. (2020). Virtual reality for acute pain in outpatient hysteroscopy: a randomised controlled trial. BJOG: An International Journal of Obstetrics & Gynaecology, 127(11), 1361-1370. DOI: 10.1111/1471-0528.16377 4. Hecken, J. M., Halagiera, P., Rehman, S., Tempfer, C. B., & Rezniczek, G. A. (2021). Virtual Reality for Anxiety Reduction in Women Undergoing Colposcopy: A Randomized Controlled Trial. The Journal of Minimally Invasive Gynecology, 28(8), 1445-1451. DOI: 10.1016/j.jmig.2021.01.016 5. Öner, N., & Le Compte, A. (1983). Durumluk-Sürekli Kaygı Envanteri El Kitabı. Boğaziçi Üniversitesi Yayınları. 6. Cohen, S. Kamarck, T. ve Mermelstein, R. (1983). A global measure of perceived stress. Journal Of Health And Social Behavior, 85-396. 7. Eskin, M. Harlak, H. Demirkıran, F. ve Dereboy, Ç. (2013). Algılanan Stres Ölçeğinin Türkçeye Uyarlanması. New Symposium Journal, 51(1). 8. Wewers, M. E., Lowe, N. K. (1990). A critical review of visual analogue scales in the measurement of clinical phenomena. Research in Nursing & Health 13, 227-236. 9. Larroy, C. (2002). Comparing visual-analog and numeric scales for assessing menstrual pain. Behavioral Medicine, 27(4), 179-181. 10. Pelazas-Hernández, J. A., Varillas-Delgado, D., G

Study record dates

These dates track the progress of study record and summary results submissions to ClinicalTrials.gov. Study records and reported results are reviewed by the National Library of Medicine (NLM) to make sure they meet specific quality control standards before being posted on the public website.

Study Major Dates

Study Start (Actual)

February 1, 2026

Primary Completion (Estimated)

September 1, 2026

Study Completion (Estimated)

October 1, 2026

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

June 10, 2026

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

June 10, 2026

First Posted (Actual)

June 16, 2026

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (Actual)

June 16, 2026

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

June 10, 2026

Last Verified

June 1, 2026

More Information

Terms related to this study

Keywords

Additional Relevant MeSH Terms

Other Study ID Numbers

  • E-58565088-100-275994

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?

NO

IPD Plan Description

Due to data privacy requirements, individual patient information is not disclosed.

Drug and device information, study documents

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product

No

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product

No

This information was retrieved directly from the website clinicaltrials.gov without any changes. If you have any requests to change, remove or update your study details, please contact register@clinicaltrials.gov. As soon as a change is implemented on clinicaltrials.gov, this will be updated automatically on our website as well.

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