Relationship between Primigravid women’s awareness, attitude, fear of childbirth, and mode of delivery preference

Abstract

Relationship between Primigravid women’s awareness, attitude, fear of childbirth, and mode of delivery preference Parisa khosravia, Soheila pirdadeh beiranvandb,⁎, Behrouz beiranvandc, Zahra Bostani Khalesid a Department Gynecology &Obstetrics Lorestan University of Medical Sciences, Khorramabad, Iran b Reproductive health, Social determinants of Health research Center, Lorestan university of medical sciences, Khorramabad, Iran c Department of Biostatistics and Epidemiology, School of Health and Nutrition, Lorestan University of Medical Sciences, Khorramabad, Iran d Social Determinants of Health Research Center, Guilan University of Medical Sciences, Rasht, Iran article info Article history: Received 16 October 2021 Received in revised form 14 January 2022 Accepted 19 January 2022 Available online 25 January 2022 Keywords: Awareness Attitude Fear of childbirth Mode of delivery abstract Introduction: Fear of childbirth is the main factor, which has decreased the tendency toward selecting natural birth. The immoderate increase in the number of C-sections has increased maternal and neonatal morbidity and mortality. The present study investigates the relationship between awareness, attitude, fear of childbirth, and mode of delivery preference in Primigravid women referring to healthcare centers in Khorramabad, Iran. Method: In this descriptive-analytic study, 179 nulliparous pregnant women with the gestational age of > 2,0 weeks who visited selected healthcare centers in Khorramabad for routine pregnancy care in 2020 were selected in two stages and studied. The data were collected via the childbirth attitude questionnaire (CAQ), awareness, attitude, demographic characteristics, current pregnancy characteristics, midwifery history, and history of infertility treatment questionnaires. The data were analyzed via the Chi-squared test. Results: The participants had a mean gestational age of 33.73 ± 4.71 weeks. There was a significant dif-ferent between the level of awareness, and mode of delivery preference (p = 0.005). The majority of the participants (57.5%) had a moderate level of awareness about the mode of delivery. There was a significant different between the level of, attitude, and mode of delivery preference (p = 0.001).) Most of the parti-cipants (71.5%) had a negative attitude towards the mode of delivery. There was also a significant different between fear of childbirth and mode of delivery preference (p < 0.001), and most of the participants (71.5%) showed fear of childbirth. Conclusion: According to the results of this study, the majority of participants had afraid of childbirth, moderate awareness of mode of delivery, and negative attitudes. So, the healthcare providers should pay special attention to the fear of childbirth and the relevant factors during pregnancy.