Fear levels of the childbirth of primiparaous women applying to emergency obstetric unit

Abstract

Background Emergency service is a complex and dynamic environment mostly simultaneously managing the conditions of different patients and which is delicate in terms of time. Health care providers should be aware of influence the environment during labour. Aims The aim of this research was to determine the level of fear of childbirth of primiparaous women, who has applied to emergency obstetric units. We also examined some variable which could effect on the level of fear of childbirth such as reasons for applying the emergency obstetric units, knowledge about birth process and readiness to birth. Methods This study is a cross-sectional study. The sample of the study is 473 primiparaous women who have applied to emergency obstetric units. A personal information form and "Wijma Birth Expectancy / Experience Scale Version" have been used to determine the fear level of childbirth by conducting face-to-face interviews. Results It has been determined that 67.7 per cent of the pregnant women have applied to the emergency unit due to pain. It has also determined that the mean score of fear of childbirth is 66.33±25.25 among women who have applied to emergency services. Also, 21.8 per cent of the women have been found to have a fear of childbirth at a severeclinical level. Women who have early membrane ruptures have the highest level of fear of childbirth. There is also significant difference between women’s fear of childbirth level depending on knowledge about birth process, readiness to give birth and desired/planned birth (p=0.000). Conclusion This study showed that on third of the primiparaous who apply to emergency obstetric care has a severe grade of fear of childbirth. It has been determined that fear of childbirth has been found to be lower in the women who has received childbirth education, who has known what they would live during birth, and who has felt ready for delivery. This finding suggests that childbirth education is important to provide low level fear of childbirth for women who apply to emergency obstetric unit.