Effects of Empowerment on the Attitudes toward Fertility and Childbearing in Women with Failed Pregnancies: A Clinical Trial

Abstract

Background & Aims: Failed pregnancy is a destructive and common experience associated with physical, psychological, and cognitive complications, including a negative self-image, doubts about one's fertility, considering the body to be inefficient, and feeling of failure in playing the feminine role and fulfilling the feminine identity adequately, which are manifested through reduced sexual activity and unwillingness to become pregnant again. In addition, the lack of sexual drive causes communicational tensions between parents. Therefore, a failed pregnancy affects the approach and attitude toward parenting, and since attitude is the foremost factor in the development of reproductive behavior, changing attitudes toward childbearing decreases fertility. Repeated pregnancy positively influences the stress caused by a failed pregnancy despite a sense of doubt and hesitation in the parents. After fetal loss, the majority of women need consultations and follow-ups regarding the causes of the incident, estimated risk of future pregnancy, and prevention of recurrence, while they may not be presented with the opportunity and receive no training, and the lack of awareness leads to concerns about the recurrence of the incident, unwillingness for another pregnancy, and even the attempt to conceive inappropriately. Therefore, the provision of an educational, care, and support program for these women with an emphasis on their experience of a failed pregnancy is paramount. Knowledge-based empowerment interventions promote the knowledge of fertility, self-efficacy, self-esteem, and self-control, thereby improving social communication, reducing negative emotions, and creating the right attitude to life experiences; in relation to failed pregnancies, such interventions have not been performed in Iran. The present study aimed to evaluate the impact of empowerment on women with a history of failed pregnancies. Materials & Methods: This clinical trial was conducted on 80 women with a history of failed pregnancies who were admitted to Shahid Akbarabadi Hospital in Tehran, Iran within the past 3-6 weeks for the termination of pregnancy during January-May 2020. The inclusion criteria were the age of 18-40 years, basic literacy, no medical prohibition for pregnancy, no children, absence of mental disorders, no pregnancy after a failed pregnancy, history of failed pregnancies up to the maximum of two cases, no history of infertility, and intentional failed pregnancy. The exclusion criteria were stressful events during the study, absence in more than one training session, and pregnancy during the study. The names of eligible subjects were extracted from the hospital medical records unit continuously until the completion of the sample size. The women were invited to participate via phone. After obtaining written informed consent from all the subjects, they were assigned to two groups of intervention and control with four random blocks, and each sample was assigned a specific code. In the intervention group, empowerment training was performe...