Lee Boram, Lim Hyun Ju, Park Jeonghyun, Kim Kyungwon, Suh Hwagyu, Lee Byung Dae, Lee Young Min, Moon Eunsoo, Kim Du-Ri, Park Jong-Hwan, Shin Myung-Jun, Lee Yean-Hwa
Department of Psychiatry, Pusan National University Hospital, Busan, Korea.
Biomedical Research Institute, Pusan National University Hospital, Busan, Korea.
Clin Psychopharmacol Neurosci. 2025 Feb 28;23(1):32-41. doi: 10.9758/cpn.23.1127. Epub 2024 Jan 18.
Recently, various mental health promotion programs using virtual reality (VR) technology have been tried in the psychiatric field. Considering the importance of mental health in pregnant women, VR-assisted mental health promotion programs for pregnant women are needed to be developed. This study aimed to prospectively investigate the efficacy of a VR-assisted mental health promotion program for pregnant women.
Fifty-five pregnant women were participated in this study. Mental health states such as depression, anxiety, perceived stress, and quality of life were assessed by Patient Health Questionnaire-9 (PHQ-9), Generalized Anxiety Disorder-7 (GAD-7), Perceived Stress Scale, and World Health Organization Quality of Life Scale Abbreviated Version (WHOQOL-BREF) before and after using VR program treatment. Based on the mental health types of pregnant women classified by cluster analysis, the effects of the VR program were analyzed by paired t test and Wilcoxon signed rank test.
The VR program significantly reduced PHQ-9 ( = 0.033) and GAD-7 ( = 0.046) scores, and significantly increased WHOQOL-BREF ( = 0.026) score of the participants. Additionally, when classifying the mental health types of pregnant women, the VR program was significantly effective to improve depression, anxiety, and quality of life in the most severe group based on the cluster analysis.
The results of this study suggest that VR program may be effective to improve the mental health of pregnant women. Particularly, VR programs for the high-risk group of depression might be the most effective. Therefore, VR-assisted mental health promotion programs could be useful for managing the mental health in pregnant women.
近年来，精神科领域尝试了各种使用虚拟现实（VR）技术的心理健康促进项目。鉴于心理健康对孕妇的重要性，有必要开发针对孕妇的VR辅助心理健康促进项目。本研究旨在前瞻性地调查VR辅助心理健康促进项目对孕妇的疗效。
55名孕妇参与了本研究。在使用VR项目治疗前后，通过患者健康问卷-9（PHQ-9）、广泛性焦虑障碍量表-7（GAD-7）、感知压力量表和世界卫生组织生活质量量表简表（WHOQOL-BREF）评估抑郁、焦虑、感知压力和生活质量等心理健康状况。根据聚类分析对孕妇的心理健康类型进行分类，采用配对t检验和Wilcoxon符号秩检验分析VR项目的效果。
VR项目显著降低了参与者的PHQ-9得分（P = 0.033）和GAD-7得分（P = 0.046），并显著提高了WHOQOL-BREF得分（P = 0.026）。此外，在对孕妇的心理健康类型进行分类时，根据聚类分析，VR项目对改善最严重组的抑郁、焦虑和生活质量具有显著效果。
本研究结果表明，VR项目可能对改善孕妇的心理健康有效。特别是，针对抑郁症高危人群的VR项目可能最有效。因此，VR辅助心理健康促进项目可能有助于管理孕妇的心理健康。
