Johnson Avita Rose, Kumar Melvin G, Jacob Rosy, Jessie Maria Arul, Mary Fabiyola, Agrawal Twinkle, Raman Vijaya
Department of Community Health, St. John's Medical College, Bengaluru, Karnataka, India.
Department of Psychiatry, St. John's Medical College, Bengaluru, Karnataka, India.
Indian J Psychol Med. 2019 Jul-Aug;41(4):318-322. doi: 10.4103/IJPSYM.IJPSYM_292_18.
Pregnancy, though joyful, may be a time of fear and anxiety. Twenty percent of pregnant women in developed nations report a fear of childbirth, and 6%-10% describe a severe fear that is crippling. This could lead to adverse maternal and fetal outcomes. Data on fear of childbirth among pregnant women are lacking in India and would help in incorporating measures to enhance routine antenatal care.
With the objective of documenting fear of childbirth and associated factors, a cross-sectional study was conducted in rural Karnataka among women availing antenatal care services, using a face-validated 30 item questionnaire developed by the authors which was then scored to determine fear of childbirth.
Of 388 women studied, 45.4% (176) had a fear of childbirth. The commonest fears documented were: not feeling confident about childbirth, being afraid or tense about the process of childbirth, fear of labor pains, and fear of cesarean section. Teenage pregnancy, nulliparity, primigravida status, and having no living child were significantly associated with fear of childbirth.
Overall, 45.4% (176) of women had a fear of childbirth. It is important to identify and address the various fears of childbirth that women may have, as revealed by this study, with a view to providing information and reassurance to the mother, with the aim of improved maternal and fetal outcomes.
怀孕虽令人喜悦，但也可能是充满恐惧和焦虑的时期。在发达国家，20%的孕妇表示害怕分娩，6%-10%称有严重到使人陷入困境的恐惧。这可能导致母婴不良结局。印度缺乏关于孕妇分娩恐惧的数据，而这些数据将有助于纳入相关措施以加强常规产前护理。
为记录分娩恐惧及相关因素，在卡纳塔克邦农村地区对接受产前护理服务的妇女进行了一项横断面研究，使用作者编制的一份经面部效度验证的30项问卷，然后进行评分以确定分娩恐惧程度。
在研究的388名妇女中，45.4%（176名）有分娩恐惧。记录到的最常见恐惧包括：对分娩缺乏信心、对分娩过程感到害怕或紧张、害怕分娩疼痛以及害怕剖宫产。青少年怀孕、未生育、初产妇状态以及没有存活子女与分娩恐惧显著相关。
总体而言，45.4%（176名）的妇女有分娩恐惧。识别并解决本研究揭示的妇女可能存在的各种分娩恐惧很重要，以便为母亲提供信息并使其安心，从而改善母婴结局。
