The relationship between self-esteem and anxiety with severity of pain and suffering of labor

Recognition of labor pain is a primary concern of physicians, midwives and their clients in controlling labor pain and preventing the resulting suffering. The purpose of this study was to assess the relationship between self-esteem and anxiety with severity of pain and suffering of labor in women.

This cross-sectional study was conducted on 365 mothers who experienced delivery at Shahidan Mobini hospital in Sabzevar in 2014. The data were collected using Rosenberg Self-esteem questionnaire and Spielberger State-Trait Anxiety scales, visual analogue scale (VAS) for pain, and experience and perception of suffering. Data were analyzed using t-test, Pearson correlation coefficient and chi-square test considering level of significance equal to 0.05.

The mean age was 26.4± 4.7 years old. In this study, 119 (44.9%) samples were nulliparous, 20 (7.5%) were employed and 196 (74%) were urban citizens. There was no significant difference between the pain of labor score in terms of self-esteem levels (p=0.84) and the level of covert anxiety (p=0.15) and overt anxiety (p=0.06). However, there was a significant differences between the suffering of labor scores in terms of selfesteem levels (p<0.001),the covert anxiety levels (p<0.001) and the overt anxiety levels (p<0.05).

Considering pregnant women with higher self- esteem and lower anxiety score had a lower score on labor suffering in this study, it seems health care providers can help reduce pregnant women’s suffering of labor through strengthening the well-being and health of pregnant women and supporting them during pregnancy and labor