The design, delivery and evaluation of ‘Human Perspectives VR’: An immersive educational programme designed to raise awareness of contributory factors for a traumatic childbirth experience and PTSD

BACKGROUND: A traumatic childbirth experience affects ~30% of women each year, with negative impacts on maternal, infant, and family wellbeing. Women classified as vulnerable or marginalised are those more likely to experience a psychologically traumatising birth. A key contributory factor for a traumatic childbirth experience is women’s relationships with maternity care providers. AIMS: To develop, design and evaluate an immersive educational programme for maternity care providers to raise awareness of traumatic childbirth experiences amongst vulnerable groups, and ultimately to improve women’s experiences of childbirth. METHODS: A critical pedagogical approach that utilised virtual reality (VR) underpinned the design and development of the educational programme. This involved: a) collecting vulnerable/disadvantaged women’s experiences of birth via interviews; b) analysing data collected to identify key hotspots for traumatic experiences within interpersonal patient–provider relationships to develop a script; c) filming the script with professional actors creating a first person perspective via VR technology; d) using existing literature to inform the theoretical and reflective aspects of the programme; e) conducting an evaluation of the education programme using pre-and post-evaluation questionnaires and a follow-up focus group. FINDINGS: Human Perspective VR was very well received. Participants considered the content to have enhanced their reflective practice and increased their knowledge base regarding contributory factors associated with a traumatic childbirth experience. A need for further work to implement learning into practice was highlighted. CONCLUSION: While further research is needed to evaluate the impact of the programme, Human Perspective VR programme offers an innovative approach to reflective education and to enhance participants’ care practices.