The effect of virtual reality glasses in the travay process on pregnancy fear of childbirth, delivery LENGTH and NON-stress test results: A randomized controlled single-blind study

Objective: The study, it is aimed to evaluate the effect of watching nature videos with nature sounds with virtual reality glasses in the delivery room on the mother's fear of childbirth, NST results and childbirth length . Method: The sample consisted of a total of 144 pregnant women, 72 primiparous (36 interventions, 36 controls), 72 multiparous (36 interventions, 36 controls) who came for vaginal delivery in hospital in Antalya between March 2022 and September 2022. Application was not made to the pregnant women who were included in the control group, except for routine procedures. Pregnant women in the active phase in the intervention group watched a video with virtual reality glasses for 20 minutes in 2 sessions. As data collection tools, Personal Information Form, Delivery Room Follow-up Form, NST Follow-up Fform, Wijma Birth Expectation/Experience Scale/ Version A (W-DEQ-A) and Wijma Birth Expectation/Experience Scale/ Version B (W-DEQ-B) used. The data obtained in the research were analyzed with IBM SPSS V25. Results: Socio-demographic characteristics of pregnants were found to be similar between the intervention and control groups. While there was no statistically significant difference between the NST results in the intervention group and the control group in terms of total childbirth length (p˃0.05), the number of accelerations (p˂0.05) increased the number of fetal movements (p˂0.05), It was determined that it shortened the active phase length (p˂0.05). In addition, it was found that pregnant women experienced severe fear of childbirth according to the W-DEQ-A scale in the control group, while the intervention group had a moderate fear of childbirth (p˂0.05). Significant differences were found between the intervention and control groups in the results of the W-DEQ-B scale (p˂0.05). Conclusion: It was determined that using virtual reality glasses in the delivery room did not affect the pregnant women' s NST results and childbirth length, and was effective in reducing the active phase length and fear of childbirth. Key words: childbirth length, fear of childbirth, nonstress test, nurse, virtual reality glasses