3.4. Participant Enrollment and Research Preparations

Suitable participants for this research were pre-selected from the patient records of the hospital. Inclusion criteria for the research were Finnish 8-to-12-year-old literate child patients, who were to receive an elective cannulation as part of their treatment with a suitable schedule. Exclusion criteria for the research included various medical conditions, such as epilepsy, vertigo, unstable heart condition, and problems regarding their hearing ability or eyesight. Potential participants and their legal guardians were contacted in person on the day of their scheduled treatment in the hospital, introduced to the study, and offered the possibility to participate in it.

The research situation was operated by two nurses who both controlled the research equipment and performed the cannulation. Before the research participants entered the research room, the technical functionality of the equipment used was prepared and verified. This included setting up Meta Quest 2 HMD with a room-scale boundary and suitable default point of view, setting up the computer running the VirNE application and the Oculus Link connection, setting up an iPad for the Internet connection and digital questionnaires used in the research, and setting up an Android tablet running the Heart Rate Monitor application.