VR as pain relief

The presumption is that VR can contribute to directing the individual’s thinking towards other things, create positive associations and abstractions and thereby decrease the pain experience. It is a new thing to use VR as pain relief in the latent phase of birthing.

AIM

The project aimed to examine if there was a potential with Virtual Reality (VR) for relief of pain for the expectant mother in the first phase of the birth.

In the VR-universe the birthing woman would be shielded from the outside world and surrounded by a virtual world in which one could move around and explore with a 360-degree view. There were developed three virtual environments: the woods, the beach and the meadow, which were intended to be calm and soothing.

In the beach environment, there was an option to choose guided breathing, which could support the birthing woman in handling the contractions when they appeared.

If the birthing woman wanted more of a distraction from the contractions, there was also an option to choose a small game module, where points would be collected in the various virtual environments.

The birthing woman could share the experience of the attending people in the home or the delivery room, who could keep up with what was shown in the VR headset.

The project tested on pregnant women throughout the fall of 2020. Subsequently, the project was evaluated with a focus on both the birthing women’s experience, as well as the staff’s experience of VR as pain relief.

PARTNERS

The Department of Gynaecology and Obstetrics at Odense University Hospital acted as the pilot department for the project.