VR preoperative education with sensory information alleviates perioperative anxiety and enhances delivery experience...

To investigate the effectiveness of a VR preoperative education program with sensory information support in reducing perioperative anxiety and improving the delivery experience among primiparas undergoing cesarean section (CS).

A total of 108 primiparas undergoing elective cesarean section were recruited and randomly assigned to either the VR group or the Control group. The control group received routine preoperative education, whereas the VR group also received a sensory information-based VR intervention 1 day before surgery. The primary outcomes were anxiety levels at the preoperative, intraoperative, and post-operative stages, as well as the delivery experience. The secondary outcomes were preoperative readiness, satisfaction, post-operative recovery, as well as vital signs (mean arterial pressure and heart rate). Repeated measures analysis of variance was used to compare differences in perioperative anxiety, mean arterial pressure, and heart rate between the two groups. Independent samples t-tests were used to compare preoperative readiness, delivery experience, and satisfaction between the two groups.

A significant group-by-time interaction was observed for anxiety (P < 0.05). Post-hoc simple effects analysis showed that preoperative anxiety was significantly lower in the VR group compared to the control group (P < 0.05). Within-group analyses revealed that anxiety levels remained stable in the VR group, whereas they increased significantly from baseline at both the preoperative and intraoperative stages in the control group (P < 0.05). A significant group-by-time interaction was observed for MAP (P < 0.05). Post-hoc analysis showed that the VR group had significantly lower MAP than the control group upon entering the operating room and before anesthesia (P < 0.05). Within-group comparisons revealed that the VR group's MAP was elevated from baseline only before anesthesia, whereas the control group showed significant elevations both before anesthesia and upon entering the operating room (P < 0.05). A significant main effect of time was found for HR (P < 0.05), with no significant main effect of group or time-by-group interaction. The delivery experience, preoperative readiness, and satisfaction were higher in the VR group than those in the control group (P < 0.05), and there was no significant difference in post-operative recovery (P > 0.05).

The VR-based sensory information support intervention effectively alleviated preoperative anxiety, enhanced the delivery experience, improved preoperative readiness and satisfaction, and stabilized preoperative blood pressure in primiparas undergoing cesarean section.