Vırtual Reality, Music Therapy and Stress Ball-related Pain and Anxiety

Virtual Reality

Virtual Reality (VR) is a term formed from the words virtual and reality. According to the Turkish Language Association; Virtuality, which means unreal, or hypothetical, derives from the Latin word "virtual". The reality is; the real is defined as the whole of the things that exist and the truth. Virtual reality, which emerged as a concept in the 1950s, started to be used in application areas in the 1900s.

Virtual reality, which has been used only for space and military research as a computer-based, high-cost technology for years, has recently become widespread in the fields of medicine, education, entertainment, librarianship, museology, architecture, and industrial design with different applications developed for mobile devices.

Today, common and easily accessible android-based smart devices capable of running virtual reality are used. The image is obtained using a combination of framed simple optical lenses that hold the phone at a fixed distance perpendicular to the user's gaze direction. The working system of three-dimensional resuscitation devices is based on stereographic vision properties. After the relevant applications are installed on the smartphone, the device divides the screen into two, and thanks to the acquisition of different images for the right and left eyes, the illusion of the spatial existence of three-dimensional animated objects is obtained.

Virtual Reality is a simulation model that gives a sense of reality to its participants, is created based on computers, and allows mutual communication.

Virtual Reality Application in Pain and Anxiety Management

Virtual reality, which is a type of computer system using human-machine interfaces, has been used in the management of pain and anxiety in many different applications known as painful medical procedures in recent years. According to the researchers' hypotheses, virtual reality; acts as a non-pharmacological method using cognitive and attentional processes on the body's complex pain modulation system. Although its neurobiological mechanisms have not been fully explained, studies have interestingly reported that it brings positive results in pain management.

In virtual reality applications, patients feel that they are in the image, their attention is effectively distracted from the pain, and the perception of pain is reduced. In recent years, virtual reality as a distraction application; It is used in the management of pain and anxiety in procedures such as burn debridement, injection applications, wound care, toothache, endoscopy procedure, phantom, and chronic pain, and chemotherapy applications.

Music Therapy in Pain and Anxiety Management

Music therapy is a method that has been used frequently among complementary and alternative medicine applications for centuries. Music, which consists of regular, harmonious rhythms and sounds that we hear with our ears, is a behavior that expresses the aesthetics found in human nature. The therapeutic use of music has an active role in making people feel and communicate with their emotional dimension.

The first scientific theorist of the use of music therapy in treatment was Pythagoras. Today, a quintuple scale system is known as the 'Pythagorean Scale' or the 'Fiddler Scale'. For the ancient Greeks, music is considered the most basic element of spiritual education and purification of the soul from evil. Athennoaops aimed to alleviate the pain by playing an instrument in the area of pain by using the vibration effect. In Turkish-Islamic Civilization; According to great philosophers and scientists such as İbn-i Sina and Farabi, music not only improves the hearing power, but also the cognitive ability of people with the suggestions it creates. Music was also used in the treatment of mental illnesses with the melodies made by the Sufis who were dealing with Sufi music. XV-XVI. between the Kayseri Gevher Nesibe Medical Madrasa and Edirne Sultan II. The architecture of Ottoman-era hospitals such as the Bayezid Hospital was built in accordance with the isolation of patients, ventilation, and treatment with music.

Today, the effectiveness of music therapy as a complementary medicine application has been proven in many studies. American Music Therapy Association; reported that music significantly reduced pain and anxiety levels. There are studies stating that music is effective in pain during burn dressing and cancer-related pain, reduces opioid use after surgery, reduces the stress levels of patients during childbirth and different medical applications, and decreases blood pressure and pulse values.

music therapy; By focusing the patients on the rhythm of the music, distracts their attention from the pain, and activating the door control system, reduces the perception of pain. Music therapy increases the secretion of endorphins and relaxes the individual. music therapy; is used in the treatment of pain and anxiety as a non-pharmacological method that is easy to apply, economical, and has no side effects.

Stress Ball in Pain and Anxiety Management

A stress ball is a simple, reliable, inexpensive, and easily accessible method that helps reduce the anxiety of patients. It is stated that the use of stress balls generally relieves patients.

A stress ball, which is one of the distraction methods, is also an effective method in providing cognitive focus. It is seen in studies that stress ball application is used to reduce the anxiety and pain of patients. Squeezing a stress ball during the surgical procedure allows patients to have direct control over the object in their palm and increases patients' feelings of empowerment. Applying a stress ball in this way has a positive effect on anxiety and patient satisfaction without interfering with the surgical procedure. In another study; It has been found that holding a stress ball reduces both pain and anxiety in patients undergoing surgical procedures.

In the study of Yanes et al. to evaluate the effects of a stress ball or hand holding on pain, anxiety, and satisfaction in skin cancer surgery performed under local anesthesia, it was concluded that anxiety decreased in all groups. In the study, it was concluded that the stress ball helped reduce anxiety in patients who were anxious before the procedure. In the study conducted by Kasar et al. on hemodialysis patients, it was concluded that the use of a stress ball has a positive effect on stress.

In the study conducted to determine the effect of distraction methods used during the cystoscopy procedure on pain, anxiety, and satisfaction, it was concluded that the level of post-procedural anxiety was lower in the intervention groups (music, video, and stress ball) than the control group, and the satisfaction was higher.

In a randomized controlled study in which three different non-pharmacological methods (coughing technique, spirometer blowing, and stress ball squeezing) were evaluated in reducing pain during intravenous catheterization; It was concluded that the pain averages of the patients in the coughing technique, spirometer blowing and stress ball groups were lower than the control group.

In another study examining the effectiveness of distraction methods for pain and anxiety management during invasive venous surgery, it was concluded that pain and anxiety were significantly lower in the interaction with nurses and the stress ball group.