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Trials. The study aimed to investigate the effect of virtual reality interventions on relieving pain and anxiety in children and adolescents receiving cancer treatment. A search that involved Cochrane Library (comprising Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials (CENTRAL)), PubMed, ProQuest, MEDLINE, Web of Sciences, Science Direct, and Scopus electronic databases covering the records from January 1, 2000 up to May, 2023 was conducted to determine randomized controlled trials that could be included in our study. The results of the search were limited to "anxiety and pain, adolescents, children, virtual reality, cancer." Of the 160 articles that were reached during the search, seven were found eligible based on inclusion criteria. Hedges' g effect size was calculated for each article. Random effects model was used to test effect sizes and moderator variables. The registration number of this meta-analysis on PROSPERO is CRD42022304737. The outcomes were pain and anxiety. Compared with standard care, virtual reality had a medium and significant effect on anxiety (g = 0.60, 95% CI: [− 1.05 − 0.15]) and pain (g = − 0.667, 95% CI: [− 1.08− -0.24]). In addition, age has been identified as an important moderator in the use of virtual reality in pain management. This meta-analysis shows that virtual reality applications are effective interventions for reducing pain and anxiety in the field of pediatric oncology. However, it is necessary to carry out randomized controlled trials that have large samples for evidence-based virtual reality applications in pediatric oncology. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Cancer can have various psychosocial effects on children and young adults. Technology‐based psychosocial interventions are increasingly popular in paediatric oncology for psychosocial health. Objective: The objective of this study is to investigate the effectiveness of technology‐based psychosocial interventions applied to children, adolescent and young adults undergoing cancer treatment. Methods: Eight electronic databases including PubMed, Cochrane Library (including Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials [CENTRAL]), CINAHL Plus with Full Text, PsycINFO, MEDLINE, ProQuest, Science Direct and Scopus were searched to identify eligible randomised controlled trials from 1 January 2010 up to 9 April 2021. Search results were limited to 'children, adolescent and young adults' 6–24 years undergoing cancer treatment. Randomised controlled studies in which technology‐based psychosocial interventions were applied were examined. Of 4,927 articles, 12 articles met the inclusion criteria. Hedges' g effect size was computed for each study. Effect sizes and moderator variables were tested using random‐effects models. This study is registered with PROSPERO, number CRD42020177787. Results: The outcomes were anger, anxiety, coping, depression, distress, quality of life and resilience. Compared with standard care, technology‐based psychosocial interventions had a large effect and significantly on anger (g = −1.327, 95% CI: [−2.43, 0.22], anxiety (g = −0.89, 95%CI: [−1.34, −0.18], and depression (g = −1.05, 95% CI: [−1.65,−0.46]. Also, it was found that the duration of interventions had a significant moderator and effect size of the distress and resilience outcomes increased as the duration increased. Conclusion: This meta‐analysis demonstrated that technology‐based psychosocial interventions served as an effective intervention as it appears to have implications reducing anger, anxiety and depression in paediatric oncology. Nevertheless, randomised controlled studies with larger samples still needed to establish evidence‐based psycho‐oncological interventions for paediatric oncology. Future research should develop interventions more graduated by duration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]