Comparing the Effect of Painting Therapy with Childbirth Preparation Classes on Sleep Quality of Pregnant Women

Sleep disorder is extremely common during pregnancy and threatens the health of both the mother and the fetus. To improve sleep patterns in pregnant women, non-pharmacological treatments are a high priority. Therefore, this study aimed to evaluate and compare the effect of painting therapy with childbirth preparation classes on the sleep quality of pregnant women.

This was a quasi-experimental study with pre-test and post-test design including a control group. The statistical population consisted of pregnant women in the third trimester of pregnancy admitted to 22 Bahman health center of Kerman in autumn 2020. Based on the inclusion criteria, 51 individuals were selected by convenience sampling method and randomly assigned to two groups: an experimental group and a control group, each including 17 participants. The experimental groups received painting therapy and childbirth preparation classes and the control group did not receive any sort of intervention. The research tool was Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI). Data were analyzed using multivariate analysis of covariance (MANCOVA) and Bonferroni post hoc test using SPSS-26 software.

The results showed that both interventions significantly improved sleep quality (p<0.001). Painting therapy could better improve both overall sleep quality and subjective sleep quality and decrease sleep disturbances compared to childbirth preparation classes (p<0.002).

Based on the findings, health experts and health and treatment centers are recommended to incorporate painting therapy in the syllabus of the childbirth preparation classes to enhance the sleep quality of pregnant women.