The Effect of the Presence of an Attendant on Anxiety and Labor Pain of Primiparae Referring to Hajar Hospital in Shahre Kurd, 2010

Mother’s satisfaction of childbirth is considered as an important criterion of maternal care quality and it has an effect on mental health of family and community، and Mother''s mood is significant in the outcome of labor. ­The parturient supported by significant others has less anxiety، experience of safe childbirth and adequate satisfaction. Thus، we ­aimed at assessing the effect of the presence of an attendant on satisfaction، anxiety and labor pain of primiparae referring to Hajar Hospital in Shahre Kurd، 2010. This pre-experimental study was conducted on 60 primiparous women، referring to Hajar Hospital in Shahre Kurd (2010)، who were divided into equal experimental and control groups. ­The parturients of both groups received common cares، while those of experimental group were allowed to be with an attendant. Using a check list، we assessed the level of anxiety، labor pain، newborn''s first- minute apgar، the onset of breastfeeding and ­childbirth satisfaction from beginning to end of labor، and analyzed the data by­ SPSS-­16 software، using t-tests and Chi-square. Our findings show that ­the support given by an attendant during childbirth significantly decrease the level of anxiety، early start of breastfeeding and increased mother''s satisfaction of childbirth (p<0/05). There is ­no significant difference between two groups on length of active phase، duration of second phase of childbirth and apgar of the first minute. ­ According to results، we conclude that being an attendant near parturient can bring about childbirth satisfaction، decreased anxiety، and early start of breastfeeding.