The Effect of Relaxation Exercise Applied With Virtual Reality Glasses on Episiotomy-induced Perineal Pain Score and Fear: A Single-Blind Randomized Controlled Study

This research is a single-blind, randomized controlled experimental study with pre-post and control groups. The population of the study consisted of pregnant women who applied to the Delivery Room in İzmir Bakırçay University Çiğli Training and Research Hospital Travay Birth Postpartum Service. The data pool could not be created because the sample was composed of women who applied for childbirth. In this randomized controlled trial, block randomization was applied. Because when simple randomization is applied, there may be a large difference between the numbers of subjects in the two groups when the study is completed. As the difference between the number of pregnant women in the virtual reality glasses and control groups grows, the reliability of the statistical analysis will decrease. Simple randomization is not recommended in cases where the sample size is less than 200. Although it was planned to take 38 experimental and 38 control group samples that met the inclusion criteria, the block randomization was carried out on 100 people, taking into account the exclusion criteria from the sample.

The randomization of the sample was made using the "random number generation program (Research Randomizer)". Intervention and control groups were formed by performing the randomization process by an impartial researcher who was not involved in the research. While it was known by the researchers in which group the pregnant women were, unilateral blindness was provided by not informing the pregnant women about the groups they were in. Since it is recommended in the literature that each step of randomized controlled trials should be performed according to the Consolidated Standards of Reporting Trials (CONSORT), this study was also conducted according to CONSORT. The type 1 error level of the study was determined as 5% (p=o.o5), the type II error level was 0.20 (80% power) and the effect size was 0.3 (moderate). Data were collected between December 2022 and May 2023. Data collection takes an average of 15 minutes.

Virtual Reality Glasses Group:

Pregnant women in the virtual reality glasses group who agreed to participate in the study and watch a relaxation video with virtual reality glasses were expected to answer the questions in the socio-demographic and obstetric information form during the latent phase of labor. Afterwards, they were asked about how many points of pain and fear they would experience on the VAS during the episiotomy incision and repair, on a scale of 0-10. After this form was answered, a relaxation video was watched with virtual reality glasses during the episiotomy incision and repair. After these procedures, as soon as the episiotomy incision and episiotomy repair were completed, virtual reality glasses were removed and the score of pain and fear they experienced was asked. They were asked to rate the pain and fear they experienced, giving a score between 0-10.

Control Group: