The Relationship between Virtual Reality Technology and Anxiety State of Parturient Women with Labor Pain

Abstract

Background: Labor pain is severe physical pain experienced by the parturient. More than 90% of mothers are accompanied by tension-anxiety-pain syndrome during childbirth. Virtual Reality (VR) technology has been widely used in nursing teaching, skill training, and clinical nursing. As a non-pharmacological method, it is rarely used in the management of labor analgesia. This study aims to explore the effect of VR technology on the anxiety state of parturient in labor analgesia. Methods: After the ethics committee approved the study, 102 primiparas who received labor analgesia in a tertiary teaching hospital were included in the study from March to October 2020. The included women were randomly divided into epidural Analgesia (E) and epidural analgesia combined with the VR group (EV). The primary outcome was the maternal anxiety score. The score was obtained using a 0-100 digital scoring scale, collected before and 30 minutes after labor analgesia. Statistical analysis used independent or paired t-test, Willson and Mann-Whitney nonparametric test. Results: After labor analgesia, the anxiety and pain scores of the two groups (E and EV) were significantly reduced (P = 0.000), and the anxiety and pain of the mothers in the EV group were relieved more significantly (P = 0.000). VR intervention significantly reduced the number of additional analgesics needed by women in the EV group (1.51 ± 0.68 vs. 0.32 ± 1.18, P = 0.000) and significantly improved the women’s overall satisfaction (9 vs. 10, P = 0.000). There were no significant differences in adverse reactions, such as nausea and vomiting between the two groups. Conclusion: Our findings indicate that VR can effectively alleviate primipara’s anxiety and pain in labor analgesia.