Emotional Freedom Technique During Pregnancy

NCT ID: NCT07000552

Last Updated: 2025-12-17

Basic Information

• Recruitment Status: COMPLETED
• Clinical Phase: NA
• Total Enrollment: 68 participants
• Study Classification: INTERVENTIONAL
• Study Start Date: 2025-01-15
• Study Completion Date: 2025-11-15

Brief Summary

Emotional Freedom Technique (EFT), also known as "Tapping Therapy" and "Needleless Acupuncture", is a new and emerging complementary and energy-based therapy. It is a psychophysiological intervention combining cognitive behavioural therapy, exposure therapy and physical stimulation using acupressure points. This research will be conducted to evaluate the effect of emotional liberation technique applied to primigravidas on fear of childbirth, birth memory and postpartum feelings of safety. The research will be conducted between January 2025 and October 2025 in Konya Necmettin Erbakan University Faculty of Medicine Hospital, Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, Pregnant Outpatient Clinic with primiparous women planning vaginal delivery. This research is planned to be conducted with two groups, EFT intervention and control group. The population of the study consisted of pregnant women who applied to the pregnancy outpatient clinic of a university hospital located in the city centre of Konya province and were evaluated for eligibility.

Conditions

Fear of Birth; Birth Memory; Postpartum Sense of Security

Study Design

• Allocation Method: RANDOMIZED
• Intervention Model: PARALLEL
• Primary Study Purpose: SUPPORTIVE_CARE
• Blinding Strategy: SINGLE

Study Groups

EFT intervention

The implementation will be carried out in accordance with EFT implementation protocols. In this context, it will be completed with 4 interviews, once a week for pregnant women. i Each EFT session will last 15 minutes.

Group Type: EXPERIMENTAL

EFT intervention

Intervention Type: OTHER

The intervention groups will be followed up for 4 weeks and 4 EFT therapies will be applied, one session per week.

Control grup

There will be no intervention. Women in the intervention groups will be followed up for 4 weeks and will receive standardised care. The final test will be administered in the postnatal period

Group Type: NO_INTERVENTION

No interventions assigned to this group

Interventions

EFT intervention

The intervention groups will be followed up for 4 weeks and 4 EFT therapies will be applied, one session per week.

Intervention Type: OTHER

Eligibility Criteria

Inclusion Criteria

• Primary education level or higher
• Able to speak, understand and write Turkish,
• 18 years of age or older,
• Residing in Konya province,
• No disability for vaginal delivery,
• Primigravida,
• Anxiety level of 1 or higher when measured with the subjective discomfort unit scale,
• Pregnant women who are at 32 weeks of gestation or above according to the last menstrual date or according to calculations made with USG data for pregnant women who do not know the last menstrual date.

Exclusion Criteria

• Pregnant individuals with high-risk pregnancies,
• Those who have undergone infertility treatment,
• Those with any fetal health problems,
• Those with physical or mental illnesses,
• Those with a cesarean section indication or who plan to deliver via cesarean section,
• Those with chronic and/or psychiatric health issues and those who have participated in any childbirth preparation education were excluded from the study.

• Minimum Eligible Age: 18 Years
• Maximum Eligible Age: 49 Years
• Eligible Sex: FEMALE
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: Yes

Sponsors

EMEL EGE

UNKNOWN

Sponsor Role: collaborator

KTO Karatay University

OTHER

Sponsor Role: lead

Responsible Party

Merve Yazar

Lecturer, PhD (c)

Responsibility Role: PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATOR

Locations

KTO Karatay University

Konya, Konya, Turkey (Türkiye)

Countries

Turkey (Türkiye)

Other Identifiers

MerveU

Identifier Type: -

Identifier Source: org_study_id