Iranian Journal of Medical Sciences

Document Type : Original Article(s)

Authors

1 Department of Midwifery, School of Nursing and Midwifery, Mashhad University of Medical Sciences, Mashhad, Iran

2 Faculty of Mechanical Engineering, K.N. Toosi University of Technology, Tehran, Iran

3 Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences Research Center, Mashhad University of Medical Sciences, School of Medicine, Mashhad, Iran

4 The School of Nursing and Midwifery, Omolbanin Hospital, Mashhad, Iran

Abstract

Background: Pain is one of the side effects of episiotomy. The virtual reality (VR) is a non-pharmacological method for pain relief. The purpose of this study was to determine the effect of using video glasses on pain reduction in primiparity women during episiotomy repair.Methods: This clinical trial was conducted on 30 primiparous parturient women having labor at Omolbanin Hospital (Mashhad, Iran) during May-July 2012. Samples during episiotomy repair were randomly divided into two equal groups. The intervention group received the usual treatment with VR (video glasses and local infiltration 5 ml solution of lidocaine 2%) and the control group only received local infiltration (5 ml solution of lidocaine 2%). Pain was measured using the Numeric Pain Rating Scale (0-100 scale) before, during and after the episiotomy repair. Data were analyzed using Fisher’s exact test, Chi-square, Mann-Whitney and repeated measures ANOVA tests by SPSS 11.5 software.Results: There were statistically significant differences between the pain score during episiotomy repair in both groups (P=0.038).Conclusion: Virtual reality is an effective complementary non-pharmacological method to reduce pain during episiotomy repair.Trial Registration Number: IRCT138811063185N1.

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