NCT05319665

"Connected Caesarean Section": Creating a Virtual Link Between Mothers and Their Infants to Improve Maternal Childbirth Experience: A Pilot Trial

"connEcted Caesarean Section": Creating a Virtual Link Between MOthers and Their infanTs to ImprOve Maternal Childbirth experieNce: a PILOT Trial (E-motion-pilot)

• Status: Completed
• Phase: N/A
• Study type: Interventional
• Enrollment: 71 (actual)
• Sponsor: Centre Hospitalier Universitaire Vaudois · Academic / Other
• Sex: Female
• Age: 18 Years
• Healthy volunteers: Accepted

Summary

One third of mothers rate their childbirth as traumatic. The prevalence of childbirth-related posttraumatic stress disorder (CB-PTSD) is of 4.7% and the prevalence of childbirth-related posttraumatic stress symptoms (CB-PTSS) of 12.3%. Skin-to-skin contact is a protective factor against CB-PTSD. However, during a caesarean section (CS), skin-to-skin contact is not always feasible and mothers and infants are often separated. In those cases, there is no validated and available solution to substitute this unique protective factor. Based on the results observed in studies using virtual reality (VR) and head-mounted displays (HMDs) and studies on childbirth experience, we hypothesize that enabling the mother to have a visual and auditory contact with her baby could improve her childbirth experience whilst she and her baby are separated. To facilitate this connection, we will use a 2D 360° camera filming the baby linked securely to a head-mounted device (HMD) that the mother can wear during the end of the surgery.

Conditions

• Post Traumatic Stress Disorder
• Childbirth Experience

Interventions

Type	Name	Description
DEVICE	Head-mounted display	The intervention is a visual and auditory contact via a head-mounted display (HMD) worn by the mother airing a live video of her newborn filmed by a 2D 360° camera during and after a caesarean section. The HMD will be worn by the new mother from the moment that her newborn is moved to an adjacent room to receive the initial care until the moment when they can be reunited again. The camera will be placed in the adjacent room where the newborn, the mother's partner and a midwife will be. The camera will film the newborn and transmit the live images and the sound to the HMD worn by the mother. The mother will be able to see and hear what happens in the next room and change her angle of view by moving her head from one side to another.

Timeline

• Start date: 2022-04-08
• Primary completion: 2022-11-01
• Completion: 2022-11-17
• First posted: 2022-04-08
• Last updated: 2023-08-01

Locations

1 site across 1 country: Switzerland