Aim: The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of use of virtual reality headsets on mothers' anxiety, by distracting their attention, during their child's circumcision procedure. Design This was a randomized controlled intervention study. Methods: The study used a pretest and posttest design and was carried out between April 15, 2019, and June 30, 2019, with 60 participants (n = 30 intervention and n = 30 control group). The data were collected using a personal information form, the State Anxiety Inventory and Faces Anxiety Scales. In the study, the participants in the intervention group watched videos through a virtual reality headset. Results: The socio‐demographic characteristics of the intervention group and control group were similar in the pretest, except for the educational level. After the intervention, the intervention group's mean scores on the Faces Anxiety Scale, heart rate and respiration rates were significantly lower than those of the control group, but the difference between the mean State Anxiety Inventory scores was insignificant. Conclusion: Distraction using videos produced by virtual reality headsets is effective in reducing mothers' moderate level anxiety. It is recommended that further studies should be conducted in different ambulatory surgery procedures. SUMMARY STATEMENT: What is already known about this topic? Circumcision is the most common surgical procedure.Although it is frequently performed as an outpatient surgical procedure and is considered to be simple, it causes anxiety for parents.There is a need for low‐cost and easy‐to‐implement applications that are capable of reducing parents' anxiety during the procedure. What this paper adds? Watching a video through a virtual reality headset resulted in a significant change in the mean Facial Anxiety Scale score.The difference in heart rate and respiration rate was statistically significant between the intervention and control groups.Distraction by watching a video through virtual reality headset did not affect the mean State Anxiety Inventory scores. The implications of this paper: This cutting‐edge new technology might be an efficient, low cost and easy‐to‐apply distraction intervention for nurses.The intervention can be integrated into nursing care for managing parents' anxiety.Future studies should assess the effectiveness of the intervention using VR technologies in an effort to reduce parents' anxiety. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]