Virtual simulator prototype for teaching natural childbirth care: a validation study

Obstetric care demands clinical reasoning, technical skills and timely decisions. Persistent training gaps highlight the need for strategies that integrate theory and practice. Educational technologies, especially virtual clinical simulation, offer safe, realistic environments for skill development. Thus, this study aimed to validate a virtual simulation prototype for teaching natural childbirth care.

This methodological study, conducted between May 2021 and June 2022, involved three stages: construction of the storyboard of a virtual simulation prototype including two clinical scenarios (normal labor and postpartum hemorrhage); content validation by 26 experts who assessed the scenarios and storyboard interfaces using the Suitability Assessment of Materials (SAM), analysis based on the Agreement Index (AI); and appearance validation by 16 obstetric nursing residents using the Instrument for Validation of the Appearance of Educational Technologies in Health (IVAETH). Ethical approval was obtained, and all participants provided informed consent.

The design and storyboard of the simulator demonstrated adequacy for its intended educational purpose. The sample, composed of 26 nurse specialists with experience in technology validation, positively validated all screens of the constructed storyboard, with an agreement index greater than 0.90 in the six evaluation domains (Content; Language appropriate for the population; Graphic illustrations, lists, tables; Layout and typography; Learning and motivation; and Cultural adaptation). Sixteen obstetric nursing residents, predominantly at the State University of Ceará, participated in this study. The evaluation of the domains for appearance validation yielded an average agreement index greater than 0.80 among residents.

The storyboard developed for virtual reality simulation scenarios in childbirth care demonstrated high levels of agreement in both content and appearance validation, indicating its adequacy as an educational tool for obstetric nursing training. The validated structure provides a foundation for the future development of the Birth Now virtual simulator to support clinical decision-making in childbirth care.