The effect of childbirth preparation courses on anxiety and self-efficacy in coping with childbirth

Abstract

Objective: To evaluate the effect of childbirth preparation courses on anxiety and self-efficacy levels in coping with childbirth. Methods: A study was conducted on a convenience sample of nulliparous women. The intervention groups consisted of 31 women who attended a 5-week childbirth preparation course and 39 women who attended a 2-week course. A control group included 32 women who did not attend any of the childbirth preparation courses. Levels of anxiety and self-efficacy were measured before and after childbirth preparation courses. The setting was a large teaching hospital in central Israel. Results: After completing the preparation courses the anxiety level dropped significantly in the long and short course groups (p = .04 and p = .01, respectively). The anxiety in both groups was significantly related to the self-efficacy for coping with childbirth (r = -0.26, p = .03 and r = -0.48, p = .001, respectively). Nonetheless, attending the preparation courses did not raise the level of self-efficacy in coping with childbirth. Anxiety and self-efficacy levels in the control group were not significantly different from those of the other groups. Conclusions: Preparation courses are expected to reinforce the self-efficacy of the parturient. The overall impact of the findings indicated that while they had no effect on self-efficacy, they did constitute an anxiety-reducing factor. Midwife postgraduate programs should include training in preparing women for coping with childbirth. These findings are an important contribution to the examination of current strategies of teaching and training of midwives in conducting childbirth preparation courses.

Effects of Antenatal Education on Fear of Birth, Depression, Anxiety, Childbirth Self-Efficacy, and Mode of Delivery in Primiparous Pregnant Women: A Prospective Randomized Controlled Study

“…In this study, depression, anxiety, and stress symptoms were found to be lower in both prenatal and postnatal periods of the women receiving antenatal education compared to the control group. Previous studies have reported that women attending training courses showed less anxiety symptoms (Ip et al, 2009;Khaikin et al, 2016). The information pregnant women received during pregnancy was reported to reduce birth anxiety in a qualitative study (Miquelutti et al, 2013b).…”

“…There was a significant negative correlation of anxiety level with childbirth self-efficacy, and also between the ways of coping with the delivery process and the severity of birth pain (Beebe et al, 2007). Furthermore, women attending prenatal education programs have been reported to be experiencing less birth anxiety, stress, and depression (Ip et al, 2009;Khaikin et al, 2016;Miquelutti et al, 2013a). Byrne et al (2014) found in a single-group experimental study that depression scores of the pregnant women decreased after the education they received and the anxiety and stress scores of the same pregnant women were very low in the postpartum period.…”

Evaluating the Effectiveness of Childbirth Preparation Courses on Women’s Self-Efficacy among Ultra-Orthodox Jewish Religious Women in Israel

“…The current study deals with a unique population of primigravid women in the ultra-orthodox religious Jewish community of Israel. The literature showed that fear of childbirth was associated with reduced maternal confidence [ 1 , 2 , 3 ], increasing anxiety, and reduced self-efficacy [ 5 , 8 ]. The aim of the present study was to examine the contribution of childbirth preparation courses to a woman’s ability to cope successfully with childbirth by raising her self-efficacy.…”

“…In the context of childbirth, women with high levels of anxiety tend to opt for an epidural injection as compared to women with low fear levels [ 4 , 5 ]. Self-efficacy was defined by Lowe (1993) as one’s belief of the ability to perform a behavior successfully in a particular context [ 6 ].…”

“…However, in general, childbirth preparation courses were found to have a positive effect on reducing mother’s anxiety and stress. In Israel, a study on primigravid women found that courses reduce stress but do not increase self-efficacy [ 5 ].…”