NCT04740762

The Effect of Individual Counselling Program on Fear of Childbirth

The Effectiveness of an Individual Counselling Program in Coping With Fear of Childbirth: A Randomized Controlled Study

• Status: Completed
• Phase: N/A
• Study type: Interventional
• Enrollment: 70 (actual)
• Sponsor: Aydin Adnan Menderes University · Academic / Other
• Sex: Female
• Age: 18 Years – 35 Years
• Healthy volunteers: Accepted

Summary

A randomized control trial was made to developing an individual counseling program to help women cope with their fear of childbirth and testing the program for effectiveness.

Detailed description

Fear of childbirth is a common problem among women and one that affects their health and welfare before and during pregnancy and in the postpartum period. The problem can lead to adverse pregnancy outcomes and also cause a woman to experience psychological issues. Fear of childbirth can also influence the determination of the mode of delivery and can amount to a rise in cesarean rates. The healthcare provided by midwives and other healthcare professionals during pregnancy and childbirth have the power to reduce or exacerbate childbirth fears. The most significant midwifery intervention that can be used to diminish the fear of childbirth is counseling. There is a need to develop and test individual counseling models that require the basic training skills that midwives can use as part of their routine care to address women's fears and expectations about childbirth. The individual counseling program developed in this context may be an easy-to-implement and cost-effective method to use. This study was conducted for the purposes of developing an individual counseling program to help women cope with their fear of childbirth and testing the program for effectiveness. It was tested the hypotheses that there is no difference between the intervention and control groups of pregnant women after the intervention in terms of fear of childbirth, childbirth self-efficacy and state anxiety scores and childbirth outcomes (duration of labor, mode of delivery, elective and emergency cesarean rates, postpartum hypertension and need for a blood transfusion, the admittance of the newborn into the intensive care unit, preferences for future births and duration of stay in hospital).

Conditions

• Fear of Childbirth
• Pregnancy Related

Interventions

Type	Name	Description
BEHAVIORAL	Intervention group	The women in the intervention groups were administered a three-session intervention program in addition to the routine care they received.The program encompassed providing the women with an educational booklet, childbirth stories and childbirth videos that were created to reduce their fears of childbirth.The interviews were held a total of three times, in gestational weeks 28-30, 31-33 and 34-36. The duration of the intervention at each visit was 60-80 minutes. Depending on the woman's own preference, she was invited to visit the delivery room at the second or last session and meet the midwives there. The women who did not wish to go to the delivery room were alternatively provided with photographs of the delivery room so they could take a look. Again as part of the education program, the women were given the links to the selected childbirth videos and given the opportunity to watch them.

Timeline

• Start date: 2018-09-01
• Primary completion: 2020-05-07
• Completion: 2020-05-07
• First posted: 2021-02-05
• Last updated: 2021-02-05

Locations

1 site across 1 country: Turkey (Türkiye)