Investigating the Effects of Aromatherapy with Citrus Aurantium Oil on Anxiety During the First Stage of Labor

A critical physical and psychological period in couples’ lives is «Transition to parenthood» when their relationship faces several challenges. As far as taking care of new born babies is too difficult and exhausting، if fathers try to perform their Parenting tasks as well، it will reduce mother’s anxiety. Therefore this study aims to determine the relationship between transition difficulty to parenthood and participation in the Parenting tasks. This descriptive study was conducted on 120 couples in health care centers of Mashhad in 2013. Half of these couples had their first child and half had two or more. Data were collected using a demographic questionnaire and questions about transition difficulty to parenthood scale and participation in the Parenting tasks. Data were analyzed using SPSS software version 16، t-tests، Mann-Whitney، Pearson and Spearman and ANOVA. There was inverse correlation between couples’ transition difficulty to parenthood and their participation in Parenting tasks which was not statistically significant (p=0. 055، r=-0. 17). There was a significant inverse correlation between transition difficulty to parenthood in mothers with first child and men`s participation in the Parenting tasks (p=0. 005، r=-0. 35) whereas there was not any significant correlation between men`s transition difficulty to parenthood and women`s participation in Parenting task (p=0. 78، r=-0. 02). By increase couples’ participation in Parenting tasks، transition difficulty to parenthood was reduced، but there was not statistically significant. Transition difficulty to parenthood was reduced whenever parents’ participation in their own tasks had increased. Corresponding with transition to parenthood is very stressful، especially for women، men`s support and participation in Parenting tasks can be a key role in reducing the transition difficulty. Ultimately men’participation in their Parenting tasks plays a key role in reducing women’s stress during this period.