The Effects of Antenatal Education and Counseling on Childbirth Fear of Nulliparous Women
Condition: Fear of Childbirth
Study type: Interventional

Summary: 
      This study investigates the effects of antenatal education and counseling on childbirth
      preparation and pain management given to nulliparous women during the last trimester on their
      childbirth fear and childbirth attitudes.
    

Detailed description: 
      Pregnancy is an important period of life that the pregnant women have biological,
      physiological, emotional and social changes in order to adapt to maternity. Fear of
      childbirth is a common problem and has a negative impact on the childbirth experience. The
      prevalence of fear associated with childbirth is around 20% but approximately 6 to 10% of
      women experience intense fear of labour. In Turkey, it estimated that the prevalence of
      childbirth fear among the Turkish pregnant women was approximately 21% . Fear of childbirth
      can cause significant problems during childbirth and the postpartum period. This fear is
      commonly associated with concern for the baby, pain in childbirth, longer first and second
      stage of labour and dissatisfaction with the childbirth experiences. Especially nulliparous
      women experience fear of childbirth more than multipar women. Fear of childbirth has also
      been implicated in women's requests for caesarean sections and increased rate of elective
      caesarean sections. Antenatal education is an essential health service throughout the world.
      Antenatal education during the last trimester may decrease childbirth fear. Also, pregnant
      women who received antenatal education, had a positive birth experience, better maternal
      adjustment and fewer symptoms of postnatal depression. The aim of this study was to
      investigate the effects of antenatal education and counseling on childbirth preparation and
      pain management given to nulliparous women during the last trimester on their childbirth fear
      and childbirth attitudes.

      This randomized controlled study was conducted at Gulhane Training and Research Hospital,
      Obstetrics and Gynecology clinic between February 2016 and January 2017. 132 nulliparous
      women between the 28th and 34th gestational weeks constituted the sample of the study. Data
      was collected by using personal information questionnaire, the Wijma Delivery
      Expectancy/Experience Questionairre (W-DEQ) Version A, W-DEQ Version B, and Childbirth
      Attitudes Questionairre (CAQ). Following the pretest, participants in the intervention group
      received childbirth preparation education and telephone counseling. Participants in the
      control group received no intervention other than the routine antenatal follow-up. For both
      groups, pretest and posttest were conducted during the same days, antenatal evaluation took
      place between the 38th and the 40th gestational weeks and postnatal evaluation was conducted
      during the first and the second postnatal days. The IBM SPSS (Statistical package for the
      Social Sciences) 22.0 package program was used to evaluate the data obtained in the study.
    

Intervention name(s): Education and Counseling
Intervention type(s): Behavioral
Intervention description(s): Following the pretests between the 28th and the 34th gestational weeks, nulliparous women in the intervention group received a presentation on childbirth preparation at a room of the obstetrics clinic. The education was completed in two sections in a single day. Each session took about 45 minutes there was a 15-minute break between the sessions. Following the education, the questions of the participants were responded and educational brochures on childbirth preparation were given to the participants. One of the researchers of this study telephoned the participant women in the intervention group one week after the childbirth education and provided counseling service about the demands and the points that the nulliparous women wondered.
Allocation: Randomized
Intervention model: Parallel Assignment
Intervention model description: This randomized controlled study was conducted at Gulhane Training and Research Hospital, Obstetrics and Gynecology clinic between February 2016 and January 2017. The CONSORT (Consolidated Standards of Reporting Trials) guidelines for reporting randomised controlled trials (RCTs) has been used to describe the methods.
Masking: Double (Participant, Investigator)
Primary purpose: Prevention
Keywords: childbirth; nulliparous; childbirth fear; antenatal education; counseling; attitude; pain