The present study was undertaken to determine the effectiveness of virtual reality therapy on anxiety and symptom distress with chemotherapy among children with cancer. The present study was quasi experimental design with one group pretest and posttest design. A total of 12 participants were recruited in the study following the inclusion and exclusion criteria. After recruiting the participants, they were assigned to experimental and control groups with six participants in each group. The participant was exposed to virtual reality therapy for at least 30 minutes during the chemotherapy administration. The control group was given the wait list measures at the end of the post test. The presents study results support virtual reality therapy as an effective tool in anxiety and symptom distress with chemotherapy among children with cancer. Further, detailed studies are recommended with higher sample size and multi centers to support the implementation of virtual reality therapy as a therapeutic tool in the management of mental health disorders.

Pediatric cancer treatment includes several chemotherapeutic drugs in combination with adequate supportive management. Symptom distress among pediatric cancer patients on chemotherapy interferes with treatment compliance. Poorly managed distress leads to the decline of the child’s ability physically and mentally and deteriorates the quality of life. This paper shows the effect of chemotherapeutic drugs induced symptom distress, and the effect of early diagnosis in the management and improvement in the quality of life of pediatric cancer patients. For this study60, pediatric cancer patients aged between 10 to 18 years including both the gender were chosen using purposive sampling. Using the M.D. Anderson symptom inventory the symptom distress experienced by the pediatric cancer patients was assessed. The present quantitative cross-sectional study was conducted at the AIIMS, Raipur. The data were analyzed using the descriptive Statistical Package for Social Science Version 16 (SPSS 16). The categorical data was analyzed using chi –square test and the cut off p-value at ≤0.05. Among, the pediatric cancer patients 77.65% (SD 18.85) were experiencing severe symptom distress when on chemotherapy. Whereas 53.65 %( SD 9.63). of them experiencing the symptoms those disturb their activities of daily living in the last twenty four hours at p-value of ≤0.05. There is a need for an adequate support system from the school, social relationship, siblings, and health care team for improving the quality of life of pediatric cancer patients. Animal facilitated therapy, artistics expressions, medical play, procedural education, well organized home bound or school programs help the pediatric cancer patients to manage the symptom distress, thereby improving the treatment outcome. The specific supportive chemotherapeutic management is essential for the pediatric cancer patient’s treatment compliance and prognosis. The health care team, especially nurses play a vital role in early detection of chemotherapeutic agents induced symptom distress and its management.