Virtual Reality for Anxiety and Birth Satisfaction During Elective Cesarean Section

Condition(s) studied

Investigational drug(s) / intervention(s)

Virtual Reality Distraction: Participants in the intervention group will receive a standardized immersive virtual reality (VR) session via a head-mounted display with headphones during elective cesarean section under spinal anesthesia, in addition to routine care. The VR headset will be applied after adequate spinal block is confirmed. Content is a 360-degree nature video (forest, water and wildlife scenes) with natural sounds, without speech or guided meditation, lasting about 20-30 minutes and restarted if surgery lasts longer. VR will be paused at the birth of the baby for the intraoperative Face Anxiety Scale assessment and the first mother-infant contact, then resumed until the end of surgery. Volume and fit will be adjusted for comfort. VR will be stopped immediately if dizziness, nausea, headache or other discomfort occurs, or if clinically required.

Study summary

This study will examine whether virtual reality during planned cesarean birth reduces women's anxiety and improves their satisfaction with the birth experience.

The study will include 144 women undergoing elective cesarean section under spinal anesthesia at Adana City Training and Research Hospital in Türkiye. Participants will be randomly assigned to one of two groups. One group will receive routine care and watch a relaxing nature video with natural sounds through a virtual reality headset during surgery. The other group will receive routine care alone.

Virtual reality will be paused when the baby is born so that anxiety can be assessed and the mother can see her baby. It will then resume until surgery ends.

Anxiety and vital signs will be assessed before surgery and 15-30 minutes after completion of surgery, once the participant is clinically stable. An additional brief anxiety assessment will be performed immediately after birth, before the mother first sees her baby. Satisfaction with cesarean birth will be assessed 6-8 hours after birth.

The researchers will compare the results between the two groups to evaluate the effects of virtual reality on maternal anxiety and cesarean birth satisfaction.

Eligibility

Primary outcome measure(s)

• State Anxiety — Preoperatively (before randomization) and 15-30 minutes after completion of surgery, once clinically stable
  State anxiety will be assessed using the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory - State Subscale (STAI-I), Turkish version. Scores range from 20 to 80; higher scores indicate higher anxiety levels.

Trial sites (1)

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