Fears associated with childbirth among nulliparous women

Fear of childbirth not only can cause significant problems during childbirth and thepostpartum period, but also has been implicated in women’s requests for cesareansection and a resultant increased rate of this elective operation. To describe fears associated with childbirth and reasons for the fears, 30 nulliparous pregnant women withfear of childbirth were entered into a qualitative study. Data were collected throughsemi-structured interviews between 30-90 minutes of duration. The interviews weretape-recorded and then transcribed to facilitate data collection and analysis. The resultsshow that the women’s fears were related to labor pain, child’s well being andeducation, economic problems and body’s physical changes. Nine of these womenconsidered an elective cesarean section. According to this study, as the fears relatedto the childbirth increases the likelihood of the request for cesarean section, the fearsshould be dealt with by the health professionals who provide antenatal care. The development and evaluation of formal childbirth education is also recommended.