The Effect of Individual Counselling Program on Fear of Childbirth

NCT ID: NCT04740762

Last Updated: 2021-02-05

Basic Information

• Recruitment Status: COMPLETED
• Clinical Phase: NA
• Total Enrollment: 70 participants
• Study Classification: INTERVENTIONAL
• Study Start Date: 2018-09-01
• Study Completion Date: 2020-05-07

Brief 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

Study Design

• Allocation Method: RANDOMIZED
• Intervention Model: PARALLEL
• Primary Study Purpose: PREVENTION
• Blinding Strategy: NONE

Study Groups

Intervention group

The study group were provided with individual counseling program and followed in this study, in addition to the usual care provided by healthcare professionals.

Group Type: EXPERIMENTAL

Intervention group

Intervention Type: BEHAVIORAL

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.

Control group

The control group continued to receive the routine care

Group Type: NO_INTERVENTION

No interventions assigned to this group

Interventions

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.

Intervention Type: BEHAVIORAL

Eligibility Criteria

Inclusion Criteria

• Primiparas
• Ages between 18-35
• Lived in Aydın
• In gestational week 28-30,
• Pregnant with a single child
• Minimum a primary school graduate (since the questionnaires would be filled out by self-reporting)
• In a low-risk pregnancy (on the basis of the criteria of the Ministry of Health),
• Willing to divulge their own or their husband's telephone numbers,

Exclusion Criteria

• High-risk pregnancy who had psychological and mental health problems
• History of infertility
• Speech and hearing disabilities
• Substance or narcotics users

• Minimum Eligible Age: 18 Years
• Maximum Eligible Age: 35 Years
• Eligible Sex: FEMALE
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: Yes

Sponsors

Aydin Adnan Menderes University

OTHER

Sponsor Role: lead

Responsible Party

Gizem Öztürk

Research Assistant

Responsibility Role: PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATOR

Principal Investigators

Gizem Öztürk, PhD

Role: STUDY_CHAIR

Adnan Menderes University, Faculty of Health Sciences, Division of Midwifery

Locations

Turkey

Aydin, Efeler, Turkey (Türkiye)

Countries

Turkey (Türkiye)

Other Identifiers

Interventional study

Identifier Type: -

Identifier Source: org_study_id