Preparing for childbirth in Virtual Reality

Many pregnant women experience some degree of fear or worry when thinking of the upcoming childbirth. In this project, we talk to women with fear of childbirth and healthcare professionals about their thoughts on using Virtual Reality to prepare for childbirth.

Ung gravid kvinna som använder headset för virtual reality, sitter på sängen hemma.

Fear of childbirth is common

Many pregnant women experience some degree of fear of childbirth, and for around 15-20% the fear is so strong that it can be is experienced as difficult to manage on one’s own. For some, fear can be strong even before pregnancy, and make women doubt whether to dare become pregnant.

Support is available, but more research is needed

In many ways, Sweden has come a long way in supporting pregnant women with fear of childbirth. Being afraid of childbirth is a recognized phenomenon and there is support and help available in maternity care. Despite this, there is still relatively little research on different interventions for fear of childbirth, and more research is needed to give clear guidance regarding which interventions should be offered and how these should be designed.

We want to take part of women's and healthcare professionals views on using Virtual Reality (VR) in preparation for childbirth

This project originated from an initiative by the midwife Ebba Lagercrantz Hedblad who wanted to develop a material where you can experience a vaginal birth through Virtual Reality (VR). When developing new interventions, it is of significant importance to consider the views of the intended users. If the intervention doesn't feel okay to those who are going to use it, it doesn't really matter how effective it is.

The aim of this research project is therefore to talk to women with fear of childbirth and healthcare professionals who support women with such fears about their thoughts on using Virtual Reality to prepare for childbirth. We want to hear their views on the potential usefulness and benefit of using VR, and how they think the material should be designed and used. By doing so, we want to contribute to a VR material that is as useful and helpful as possible.

The research project has been approved by the Swedish Ethical Review Authority (Dnr 2022-05817-01).

Project partners

The VR material is developed by the midwife Ebba Lagercrantz Hedblad at VeRa Birth AB, together with the psychologists Camilla Söderberg and Emma Gårdbro at Psykologpartners W&W Digital Psykologi AB.