PAIN AND BIOFEEDBACK (CHILDBIRTH).
Contributors: Rush University, College Of Nursing.
Published: 1987
Number of pages: 160
Subjects: Health Sciences, Nursing.
Description: Biofeedback is a technique of recent popularity that has been used in the treatment of a variety of disorders. One of the most frequent uses of biofeedback is in the treatment of pain. Biofeedback has been studied in regard to the pain of childbirth, and the results have indicated that medication use is decreased when biofeedback is used during labor. Pain assessment tools have not been included in previous studies involving biofeedback and childbirth. Therefore, a study was designed which would include pain assessment measures to determine the effects of biofeedback on the pain experienced during childbirth.

Forty primigravidae were randomly assigned to either an experimental group or a control group. The experimental group was given a series of training sessions in biofeedback, and used biofeedback equipment during labor. Both groups attended Lamaze classes.

All subjects were monitored during the labor and delivery period for their reports of pain using a visual analogue scale and the present pain intensity scale of the McGill Pain Questionnaire.

Data from the present pain intensity scale were analyzed with a Mann-Whitney-U analysis. Statistically significant results were obtained for: admission (p = 0.035); delivery (p = 0.005); and recall (p = 0.012). The data from the visual analogue scale were analyzed with univariate and repeated measures analysis of variance, with significantly lower pain reports obtained for the admission measurement (p = 0.011). In addition, women in the biofeedback group used 30% fewer medications (Z-test, p = 0.023) and labored an average of two hours less (separate variance T-test, 0.15 < p < 0.25). Such findings support the study's hypothesis that women using E.M.G. biofeedback during childbirth will report lower levels of pain than women not using E.M.G. biofeedback.
Notes: Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 48-01, Section: B, page: 0088.

Thesis (D.N.SC.)--RUSH UNIVERSITY, COLLEGE OF NURSING, 1987.

School code: 0591.