The Effects of Virtual-Augmented Reality Training on Anxiety among Operating Room Students Attending Coronary Artery Bypass Graft Surgery

Background: Operating room (OR) students experience varying levels of anxiety during their internship program in the OR. Educational technology has the potential for reducing anxiety. Objectives: This study aimed at assessing the effects of training based on virtual-augmented reality (VAR) on anxiety among o‎r students attending coronary artery bypass graft (CABG) surgery. Methods: This randomized controlled trial was conducted in 2020. Thirty-six o‎r students were conveniently recruited and randomly allocated to an intervention (n = 18) and a control (n = 18) group. Participants in the control group received conventional training, whereas their counterparts in the intervention group received VAR training through watching a 360-degree VAR video of CABG surgery in addition to conventional training. The State-Trait Anxiety Inventory was used for anxiety assessment in both groups at three time points, namely before entering the o‎r on the first day of the internship program, after entering the o‎r but before scrub, and on the last day of the program. The data were analyzed through the independent-samples t test, the Chi-square test, and the repeated-measures analysis of variance. Results: There was no significant difference between the intervention and the control groups regarding the pretest mean scores of state anxiety (40.61 ± 7.63 vs. 41.59 ± 5.09; P = 0.66) and trait anxiety (39.17 ± 7.39 vs. 39.29 ± 6.05; P = 0.96). However, the mean scores of state and trait anxiety in the intervention group were significantly less than the control group at both the first posttest (33.17 ± 6.16 vs. 45.06 ± 8.69 and 33.56 ± 6.19 vs. 42.59 ± 6.62; P < 0.001) and the second posttest (32.39 ± 4.62 vs. 42.35 ± 6.14 and 32.94 ± 5.20 vs. 41.0 ± 5.58; P < 0.001). Conclusion: VAR training is effective in significantly reducing anxiety among o‎r students attending CABG surgery.