Digital platforms alleviate anxiety in practice and foster theory development

Using digital platforms to deliver health education is becoming commonplace. Telerehabilitation now helps to alleviate urinary tract symptoms among Multiple Sclerosis patients (Saliha Beste Bulbul, et al.). Allowing patients to access health information and rehabilitation exercises online is good because easier access will surely alleviate anxiety. While not all women have such technology in their homes, a great number do have such access and are getting information that previously would have required a cumbersome trip to a health clinic. Online technology is also useful to inform and counsel women and thus to reduce anxiety among them concerning showing up for a gynecological exam (Belma Toptaş Acar and Hilmiye Aksu).

We have known for a long time that anxiety and pain contribute to less-than-ideal outcomes for women’s health patients. In this issue of Health Care for Women International, you will read about interventions to reduce both pain and anxiety. In most of these studies, researchers employed innovative digital technology and experimental designs to make contributions to women’s health practice. I was particularly impressed to learn about the benefits of virtual reality, alleviating anxiety in mothers whose fetuses are being examined for fetal movement (Toker and Keleş) and allowing practitioners to effectively prescribe weaker opioids in treating pain and anxiety for breast cancer patients (Muayyad Ahmad, et al.). Experimental designs also allowed researchers to demonstrate novel interventions to alleviate anxiety associated with breast feeding (Elif Dağlı and Feyza Aktaş Reyhan).

For an aging scholar like me, I am glad that content analyses of literature are much easier now due to the digital technology available today that didn’t exist earlier in my career. Ritesh Rikain Warty and colleagues who were interested in appropriate product development for women’s health practices were able to utilize digital technology in their narrative review of literature. They discovered that far too few scholars considered all three theoretical domains that the authors think require our consideration.

As always, consult the table of literature contributions to read and learn. If you are seeing this editorial online, digital technology will allow you to point and click as you read, learn and act.

Table

Health Issue	Authors	International Literature Contribution	Extent of Global Contribution	Research Location
Multiple Sclerosis	Saliha Beste Bulbul, et. al.	Practice Contribution: Researchers employed experimental design demonstrating that pelvic floor muscle training via telerehabilitation is effective, improving satisfaction in multiple sclerosis (MS) patients & lowering urinary tract symptoms.	Study must be replicated elsewhere for global contribution re benefits of telerehabilitation.	Turkey
Gynecological Exams	Belma Toptaş Acar and Hilmiye Aksu	Practice Contribution: Experimental design allowed researchers to demonstrate that on-line training and counseling reduced women’s state anxiety toward gynecological examinations and to have less negative attitude toward such exams.	Turkish study should be replicated for more global contribution.	Turkey
Evaluating fetal health	Eylem Toker and Mine Gökduman Keleş	Practice Contribution: Researchers employed experimental design to determine a positive effect of a virtual reality (VR) nature video on fetal movement, fetal heart rate, maternal fatigue, and maternal anxiety.	Turkish study must be replicated elsewhere for conclusions re global effectiveness of (VR) nature videos.	Turkey
Breast Cancer	Muayyad Ahmad, et. al.	Practice Contribution: Quasi-experimental design allowed researchers to demonstrate that when combined with “happy place” virtual reality, weak opioids have the same effect as strong opioids in reducing pain and anxiety among breast cancer patients.	Once replicated, these results will have global significance, reducing use of strong opioids for breast cancer patients.	Jordan
Breastfeeding	Elif Dağlı and Feyza Aktaş Reyhan	Practice Contribution: Experimental design allowed researchers to demonstrate that intervention groups (hypno-breastfeeding and solution-focused psychoeducation) increased motivation to breastfeed and decreased perception of insufficient milk.	Turkish study should be replicated for more global contribution.	Turkey
Technological development in obstetric and gynecological care	Ritesh Rikain Warty, et. al.	Methodological Contribution and Theory Development: Researchers concluded after narrative literature review of theoretical models of obstetric and gynecological that very few studies of product development included a consideration of all three domains (technological, clinical and entrepreneurial).	Good example of employing literature review to generate theory.	Australia

Eleanor Krassen Covan, PhD
Editor-in-Chief
[email protected]