The Effects Of A Nurse-managed Tailored Childbirth Education Program On Chinese Women’s Fear Of Childbirth

Objective:To describe the prevalence,severity,and factors influencing fear of childbirth(FOC)in Chinese women with low-risk pregnancy and examine the effects of a nurse-managed tailored education program on their fear of childbirth.Design:A quasi-experimental,pre-posttest study Setting:A tertiary referral hospital in Suizhou,Hubei,China Participants:150 low-risk pregnant women,24-28 weeks’ gestation during February-June,2016.Methods:Institutional Review Board approval was secured and a pilot study completed.Women who consented for the study were randomly assigned to two groups:control(n=75)(routine care)or intervention(n=75,six to eight participants attended each session with the overall childbirth education repeated 11 times)(routine care plus 5 pre-delivery nurse-managed tailored sessions).All women completed a sociodemographics questionnaire and the Wijma Delivery Expectance/Experience Questionnaire(W-DEQ)version A in Chinese.Following the sessions for the intervention group,all participants again completed the W-DEQ version A during 37-38 weeks of gestationResults:Initially,all participants were found to experience fear of childbirth(M±SD=53.16±21.910,range[11,101]).Six pregnant women(6.90%)were at the level of severe FOC(W-DEQ>85).Multiparous women had significantly lower FOC than nulliparous(t=2.710,p=0.008)and pregnant women with miscarriage experience had significantly higher FOC(t=9.536,p<0.001).At post-test,the intervention group had significantly lower fear of childbirth than did controls(45.56 ± 18.415 versus 59.60±21.916,t=3.243,p=0.002)with no severe FOC in intervention group while 9.52%(n=4)in control.Conclusions:Chinese women in the third trimester of pregnancy experience fear of childbirth.A program of nurse-managed tailored childbirth education may be effective in supporting low-risk pregnant women to manage fear of childbirth.