Authors (including presenting author) :
MA KY(1), SIU KY(2), IU PL(3), CHAU MCM(4)
Affiliation :
(1) Obstetrics and Gynaecology Department, Prince of Wales Hospital, (2) Obstetrics and Gynaecology Department, Prince of Wales Hospital, (3) Obstetrics and Gynaecology Department, Prince of Wales Hospital, (4) Obstetrics and Gynaecology Department, Prince of Wales Hospital
Introduction :
Virtual reality (VR) is an effective and inexpensive method that allows the creation of simulated scenarios in which it interacts with the virtual environment with multisensory stimuli. It is a computer technology that simulates the real world to allow users to communicate with a similar but artificial environment. The VR system can be used as a non-pharmacological pain relief for pregnant women (Frey et al., 2019). It can also reduce their anxiety during labour (Hajesmaeel-Gohari et al., 2021).
Objectives :
This project is conducted to investigate the effects of VR on pain relief and anxiety of pregnant women in labour.
Methodology :
Inclusion and exclusion criteria
Target is all the pregnant women at ≥34 weeks’ gestation who have regular uterine pain with pain score ≥ 2, who are prone to vaginal delivery for current pregnancy. Exclusion criteria included presence of fetal or placental anomaly, high-risk pregnancy, or risk of urgent delivery (e.g. nonreassuring CTG, malpresentation), inability to indicate pain intensity or complete study, hearing or vision deficits, seizure history.
Study design
A total of 55 patients were enrolled. The analog (0-10) pain scale was used to assess the pain score of pregnant women before and after the VR trail. As for the anxiety level, State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI) which consists of 40 questions based on a 4-point scale, was assessed before and after the VR intervention to measure the two types of anxiety – state anxiety and trait anxiety. The pregnant women were asked to use VR equipment for at least 10 minutes. A brief survey was completed to collect their comments.
Result & Outcome :
The average pain score before VR use was 3.0545, after VR use the pain score decreased to an average of 2.691 (p value < 0.01), showing that the percentage decrease in the pain score was 11.9% among the pregnant women after the VR trial. Around 36,4% of them reported there was a decrease in the pain score after the intervention. As for the anxiety level, the average mean score of STAI-S and STAI-T before the intervention were 37.82 and 36.64 respectively, they were reduced to 31.90 (p value = 0.01) in STAI-S and 30.82 (p value < 0.01) in STAI-T after the intervention, revealing that there were around 15.9% and 14.6% decrease in the percentage change of the STAT-S and STAI-T scores after the VR uses. This suggested that VR can reduce the anxiety level of the subjects during labour.
