Journal
MIDWIFERY
Volume 97, Issue -, Pages -Publisher
ELSEVIER SCI LTD
DOI: 10.1016/j.midw.2021.102969
Keywords
Fear of childbirth; Visual analogue scale; Wijma delivery expectation questionnaire; Screening; Obstetric interventions
Categories
Funding
- Netherlands Health Insurance Association [Z518-2]
- Research Institute Child Development and Education (RICDE) at the University of Amsterdam, the Netherlands [C.2524.05.06.01]
Ask authors/readers for more resources
The study evaluated self-reported fear of childbirth and postpartum emotions and found that high FOC measured with FOCP-VAS is better for predicting requested and received non-urgent obstetric interventions in pregnant women. Results showed that FOCP-VAS >= 5 had a better predictive effect on non-urgent obstetric interventions compared to W-DEQ-A >= 66.
Objective: To examine whether the Wijma Delivery Expectation Questionnaire (W-DEQ-A) and the one-item Fear of Childbirth-Postpartum-Visual Analogue Scale (FOCP-VAS) measuring high FOC are useful tools in predicting requested and received non-urgent obstetric interventions in pregnant women. Design: A prospective cohort study. Population and setting: Self-selected pregnant women from midwifery care settings (n = 401). Methods: W-DEQ-A and FOCP-VAS were assessed at two timepoints in pregnancy. Measures of non-urgent obstetric interventions which were derived from medical files were: induction of labour, epidural analgesia, augmentation with oxytocin due to failure to progress and self-requested caesarean section. Hierarchical logistics regression models were used. Main outcome measures: The change in the Nagelkerke R-2 was examined for three models predicting two outcome measures: (1) explicitly requested non-urgent obstetric interventions during pregnancy and (2) received non-urgent obstetric interventions during labour. The first model only included participants' characteristics, the second model also included FOCP-VAS >= 5, and in the third model the W-DEQ-A >= 66 was added. Results: High FOC measured with FOCP-VAS >= 5 predicted requested (pseudo R-2 = 0.33, X-2 = 59.82, P < 0.001) and received non-urgent obstetric interventions (pseudo R-2 = 0.19, X-2 = 32.81, P < 0.001) better than high FOC measured with W-DEQ-A >= 66. Conclusion: This study is the first evaluating self-reported FOC and postpartum based on VAS (subjective outcome) in relation to actual pregnancy and childbirth outcomes derived from medical files (objective outcome). Non urgent obstetric interventions could already be predicted in the first half of pregnancy by means of a simple FOC assessment with the one-item FOCP-VAS. Implementing this easy to use one-item screening tool in midwifery care is suggested.
Authors
I am an author on this paper
Click your name to claim this paper and add it to your profile.
Reviews
Recommended
No Data Available