Effectiveness of Childbirth Preparation Education

NCT06849440 | Completed

• 1 other identifier: 2025-101
• Study Type: interventional
• Target: 38
• Locations: 1 country
• Sites: 1

Brief Summary

The act of birth, which is considered a natural event, is an act that the mother will remember with positive experiences in her life if it progresses normally. However, sometimes birth can be perceived as stressful and traumatic for women. Stress during pregnancy is a problem that should be emphasized and managed due to its negative effects on the health of the mother and the baby. As the pregnancy progresses, the levels of stress hormones may increase. In addition, the thought of spontaneous birth exposes women to physical discomfort, stress and uncertainty during pregnancy. The perception of traumatic birth is an important concept that emerges as a result of the woman's mental birth scenario, the information she has acquired about birth, and every situation she experiences during the birth, and also affects the postpartum period. In studies conducted in Turkey using the Traumatic Birth Perception Scale, it was determined that 23.6% and 26.9% of women experienced a high level of traumatic birth perception. Nulliparity, negative feelings about birth, inadequate antenatal care, inadequate psychosocial support, risky pregnancies, and lack of information about birth are among the factors that may cause traumatic birth perception. Physical and mental preparation for birth and information about pain management are considered to be the basic elements of prenatal education classes. There are study results indicating that birth preparation classes benefit women in many aspects such as self-sufficiency, reduced fear of birth, and positive pregnancy experience. No study results have been found in the literature examining the effect of birth preparation education on the perception of traumatic birth during pregnancy. Based on this, this study was needed to examine the effect of pregnant women's participation in childbirth preparation training on their perceived stress level and perception of traumatic birth.

Conditions

Perception of Traumatic Birth; Perceived Stress

Keywords

childbirth; childbirth preparation; percieved stress; perception of traumatic birth

Outcome Measures

Primary Outcomes (1)

• Perceived Stress Scale (PSS)

  It was developed by Cohen et al. (1983). The scale was adapted to Turkish by Eskin et al. (2013). The PSS, which consists of 14 items in total, was designed to measure the degree to which a number of situations in a person's life are perceived as stressful. Participants evaluate each item on a 5-point Likert-type scale ranging from "Never (0)" to "Very often (4)". 7 of the items containing positive expressions are scored reversely. Scores vary between 0 and 56. A high score indicates a high perception of stress. In the study by Eskin et al., the Cronbach's alpha value of the scale was found to be 0.84.

  Pre-test and immediately post-test

Secondary Outcomes (1)

• Traumatic Birth Perception Scale (TBPS)

  Pre-test and immediately post-test

Study Arms (1)

Training group

EXPERIMENTAL

The sociodemographic data collection form and the perceived stress and traumatic birth perception scales as pre-tests will be applied to the pregnant women who accept the study before the childbirth training. After the pre-test, the pregnant women will be given face-to-face childbirth preparation training in a classroom environment during four sessions. When the participants complete the training sessions, the scales will be applied as a post-test. The data collection process will be completed after the application of the scales.

Behavioral: Training

Interventions

Training BEHAVIORAL

Participants will be divided into groups of ten and the training is planned in 4 sessions. Session contents are prepared as sharing general information on preparation for birth, explanation of frequently applied interventions in labor, explanation of non-drug pain relieving methods, teaching and practicing active birth positions that help the labor progress. The duration of the sessions is planned as 2 hours on average.

Training group

Eligibility Criteria

• Age: 18 Years - 40 Years
• Sex: female
• Healthy Volunteers: Yes
• Age Groups: Adult (18-64)

28-34th weeks of pregnancy Agree to participate in the study Be literate Be able to speak and understand Turkish

Contact the study team to discuss eligibility requirements. They can help determine if this study is right for you.

Sponsors & Collaborators

• Antalya Bilim University: lead

Study Sites (1)

Antalya Bilim University

Antalya, Turkey (Türkiye)

Location

Study Design

• Study Type: interventional
• Phase: not applicable
• Allocation: NA
• Masking: NONE
• Purpose: SUPPORTIVE CARE
• Intervention Model: SINGLE GROUP
• Sponsor Type: OTHER
• Responsible Party: SPONSOR

Study Record Dates

• First Submitted: January 14, 2025
• First Posted: February 27, 2025
• Study Start: March 1, 2025
• Primary Completion: May 9, 2025
• Study Completion: May 9, 2025
• Last Updated: August 27, 2025

Record last verified: 2025-02

Locations

TU (1)