Art Therapy as Treatment for Fear of Childbirth

Study Overview
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Brief Summary
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Earlier research has shown that pregnant women with a pronounced fear of childbirth have a significantly increased risk for birth complications and subsequent psychological trauma. In Sweden and also internationally, women in fear of childbirth are treated in many differing ways. Evidence for best care for these women is lacking. The Art Therapy method is a creative, psycho-therapeutic form of treatment which has been used for several decades within psychiatry. It has recently been seen that the Art Therapy method has positive effects during treatment for crisis reactions. Recruitment has recently been initiated for a randomized controlled study of Art Therapy for the treatment of fear of childbirth. The hypothesis for the study is as follows: H1 = treatment with Art Therapy and therapeutic conversations will result in a decrease in fear of childbirth when compared to treatment by therapeutic conversations only. The instrument which is to be used for measurement of childbirth fear is the Wijma Delivery Expectancy Questionnaire (W-DEQ). This is a well validated instrument which was developed in Sweden. A power calculation has shown a need for 62 x 2 participants; a total of 124 women.

Official Title
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Art Therapy as Treatment for Fear of Childbirth:a Randomized Controlled Study

Conditions
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Fear of Childbirth

Intervention / Treatment
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* Other: Art Therapy and therapeutic conversations
* Other: Therapeutic conversations


Participation Criteria
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Eligibility Criteria
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Inclusion Criteria: Pregnant women Pronounced fear of childbirth Exclusion Criteria: Women with a current psychiatric diagnosis Women who do not understand Swedish Women with a current substance misuse
Sexes Eligible for Study
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Female

Accepts Healthy Volunteers
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No

Study Plan
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How is the study designed?
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Design Details

Primary Purpose: Treatment
Allocation: Randomized
Intervention Model: Parallel Assignment
Masking: None (Open Label)


Arms and Interventions

| Participant Group/Arm | Intervention/Treatment |
| --- | --- |
| Experimental: Art therapy group<br>Treatment in this arm consists of five Art Therapy sessions and therapeutic conversations. | Other: Art Therapy and therapeutic conversations<br>* Treatment consists of five sessions of Art Therapy given by an authorised Art Therapist and therapeutic conversations with specialist midwives. Number of conversations is determined by the participant.<br>|
| Active Comparator: Therapeutic conversation group<br>Treatment by therapeutic conversations only | Other: Therapeutic conversations<br>* Therapeutic conversations with specialist midwives. Number of conversations is determined by the participant.<br>|

What is the study measuring?
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Primary Outcome Measures

| Outcome Measure | Measure Description | Time Frame |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Scores for the Wijma Delivery Expectancy Questionnaire (W-DEQ) |  | Change in W-DEQ scores measured at entry to the study (approximately gestational weeks 20 to 31) and again at gestational week 36. | 

 Terms related to the study
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Keywords Provided by Centre Hospitalier Valida
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Fear, Childbirth, Art therapy, Therapeutic conversations, W-DEQ