The use of virtual reality technologies for the relaxation of pregnant and parturient women: the results of a pilot study

Abstract

Modern methodology of psychological support of pregnant women is represented by many effective means and focus areas, but they mainly concern the prena-tal period. The aid of a psychologist during childbirth is complicated by objective factors: first of all, there is a lack of trained specialists who can be constantly pres-ent in a delivery room and work in cooperation with doctors and parturient women. Therefore, the means which can be provided to patients in audio or video for-mat after a preliminary briefing arouse interest. In par-ticular, the application of virtual reality technologies, which dive a person into an immersive therapeutic space, has great prospects. They are actively employed to relieve procedural and acute pain in pediatric, onco-logical, and burn departments. However, they are still poorly introduced into obstetric practice and perinatal psychology. The purpose of this work is to pres-ent preliminary results of the implementation of VR relaxation during contractions in women giving birth for the first time. Methods. The guided relaxation tech-nique is intended for pregnant women; it comprises verbal instructions for deep muscle relaxation, guided visualization to enhance salivation and positive sug-gestions about delivery outcome, and 3D background video and music. The experimental group included 49 participants who used VR glasses with a relaxation program during contractions; the control group con-sisted of 43 women who gave birth traditionally, involving all other services of the maternity department. Results contain medical records (duration of delivery, anesthesia use, a newborn’s Apgar score) and a survey of women on their experience 24-48 hours after child-birth. The comparative analysis confirmed a significant decrease in the use of anesthetic, duration of delivery, intensity and discomfort of labor pain; an increase in the ability to relax between contractions and better estimates of the newborn condition. The substantial growth of overall satisfaction with labor and the desire to give birth again in the experimental group is crucial. The technology’s effectiveness proves the theory of the psychogenic origin of labor pain and hence the relevance of a psychological approach to managing it. The author concluded on the effectiveness of inter-ventions based on muscle relaxation of parturient women in combination with virtual reality technolo-gies. The presented technology is fully ready-to-use in the practice of maternity departments.