The effect of education given to primigravida women on fear of childbirth

Abstract

Objective The present study was conducted to determine the effect of education that is given information about the delivery room, labor and coping strategies with the fear of pain of childbirth in primigravida women.

Design This study was conducted experimentally using pre–post tests and a control group.

Participants and setting A total of 99 primigravida women with 50 in the study group and 49 in the control group at a maternity hospital in a city of middle region of Turkey were recruited to the study.

Methods Data were collected using the Pregnant Introduction Form, Interview Form After Delivery and Wijma Delivery Expectancy/Experience Questionnaire (W-DEQ), version A. Verbal informed consent and approval were obtained from the participants and ethical committee. Preparatory labor education was provided in two sessions between pregnancy weeks 28 and 34 to the women in the study group. Fisher, MC Pearson, chi-square, Mann–Whitney U and Wilcoxon t tests were used for statistical data analysis.

Results In the first interview session, no significant difference was found between W-DEQ-A scores of the study and control groups. The mean pre-education W-DEQ-A score was 61.1 while it was 42.0 post-education in the study group. The post-education W-DEQ-A score was 58.5 in the control group while it was 42.0 in the study group.

Conclusions It was determined that positive perception regarding birth was provided and fear of childbirth decreased with the preparation education for birth.