Fear of Childbirth (Tokophobia) - Etiology, Essence and Clinical Implications

Study Overview
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Brief Summary
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The purpose of this study is twofold: to understand the etiology and the essence of fear of childbirth to examine the implications and efficiency of several forms of psychological therapy.

Detailed Description
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Fear of childbirth (Tokophobia) is inconsistently defined in the research literature: some define it as an anxiety disorder while it is often defined as a form of phobia; some regard only the pre-pregnancy period, some regard the anxiety during pregnancy and some focus on the labor process. Despite the high prevalence (between 13%-20% of fertile women), research in this area is scarce and the current findings are incohesive due to various conceptualizations of the phenomenon and to various measurement methods.

Official Title
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Fear of Childbirth (Tokophobia) - Etiology, Essence and Clinical Implications

Conditions
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Phobias

Intervention / Treatment
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* Behavioral: Psychological Treatment
* Behavioral: Group Therapy


Participation Criteria
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Eligibility Criteria
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Inclusion Criteria: subjective diagnosis of tokophobia Exclusion Criteria: currently undergoing psychological therapy Major Depression Acute Anxiety Psychosis Bipolar Disorder Suicidal Substance abuse Non-compliant personality disorder Health problems during pregnancy that affect perception
Sexes Eligible for Study
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Female

Accepts Healthy Volunteers
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Accepts Healthy Volunteers

Study Plan
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How is the study designed?
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Design Details

Primary Purpose: Treatment
Allocation: Non-Randomized
Intervention Model: Factorial Assignment
Masking: None (Open Label)


Arms and Interventions

| Participant Group/Arm | Intervention/Treatment |
| --- | --- |
| Experimental: 1 - Pregnant - Tokophobic<br>Psychoanalysis treatment. | Behavioral: Psychological Treatment<br>* 15 weekly therapy sessions.<br>* Other names: CBT;|
| Experimental: 2 - Pregnant - Tokophobic<br>Cognitive-Behavioral treatment. | Behavioral: Psychological Treatment<br>* 15 weekly therapy sessions.<br>* Other names: CBT;|
| Experimental: 3 - Non-pregnant - Tokophobic<br>Group Therapy | Behavioral: Group Therapy<br>* 3 months of weekly group therapy sessions.<br>* Other names: Group Psychotherapy;|
| No Intervention: 4 - Control<br>Pregnant and non-pregnant non-tokophobic women will answer questionnaires. Won't receive therapy. | |

What is the study measuring?
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Primary Outcome Measures

| Outcome Measure | Measure Description | Time Frame |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Tokophobia existing and new measures (e.g. Pregnancy anxiety scale, Levin, 1991; Tokophobia subjective scale) |  | Pre-treatment, Mid treatment, End of treatment | 

Secondary Outcome Measures

| Outcome Measure | Measure Description | Time Frame |
| --- | --- | --- |
| For pregnant subjects - labor preference, duration and pain medication assessment. |  | post-labor | 

 Terms related to the study
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Keywords Provided by Centre Hospitalier Valida
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Fear of childbirth, Tokophobia, Anxiety, Labor, Pregnancy, Cognitive-behavioral, Psychoanalysis, Group Therapy, etiology