Cross-cultural comparison of levels of childbirth-related fear in an Australian and Swedish sample

Haines, Helen; Pallant, Julie; Karlström, Annika; Hildingsson, Ingegerd

doi:10.1016/j.midw.2010.05.004

Cited by 200 publications

(187 citation statements)

References 33 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

174

Contrasting

Unclassified

Order By: Relevance

“…Among multiparous women, the prevalence of intense fear varied from 7.6% (in Iceland) to 15.2% (in Sweden). The results of the study conducted by Haines, Pallant, Karlström, & Hildingsson (2011) in Australia show that almost 30% of Australian and Swedish women had high levels of childbirth fear, with significantly higher levels in Swedish primiparous women, compared with multiparous women. In Portugal, there is limited research evidence on the fear of childbirth.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Fear of Childbirth: A Study in the North of Portugal

Prata¹,

Santos²,

Santos³

et al. 2016

European Proceedings of Social &Amp; Behavioural Sciences

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Childbirth is a universal phenomenon and a meaningful experience that has the potential to trigger developmental transitions, stress, anxiety and/or fear, which, at times, can negatively impact future childbirth experiences. An exploratory and descriptive study was conducted aiming to identify the levels of fear experienced by pregnant women associated with childbirth and their main causes. A convenience sample was selected. Data collection were carried out in an outpatient obstetric hospital in the northern region of Portugal, between July 2010 and July 2012. To evaluate the intensity of fear of childbirth a visual analogic scale of 10 points was applied. Interviews were conducted in order to identify the main causes of fear. Ethical approval and informed consent were obtained. Regarding the level of fear, the majority (98%) of pregnant women had fear of childbirth, 60.2% reported moderate fear and 28% intense fear. Anxiety, primiparity and lack of knowledge related to birthing were also found to increase the fear of childbirth. Some of the main causes of fear identified were: complications during childbirth; pain/suffering; not knowing how to cope with pain; not able to give birth; baby with malformation/disease and/or suffering. Most women feel moderate or intense fear of childbirth and this is associated to well identified causes with high impact on the woman and family. To minimize the effects of fear, an early intervention has to be considered, including childbirth education classes where nurses can address and work women's fear in order to minimize it and promote a more positive experience.

show abstract

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Fear of Childbirth: A Study in the North of Portugal

Prata¹,

Santos²,

Santos³

et al. 2016

European Proceedings of Social &Amp; Behavioural Sciences

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…'Please indicate why you would prefer an epidural (for your partner)? ' 8 A review of the literature revealed more than 10 different self-report measures of childbirth fear (4,5,(20)(21)(22)(23)(24)(25)(26)(27)(28), ranging from 1-item measures (26,27,29) to a 64-item scale (5). The 33-item Wijma Delivery and Expectancy Questionnaire (WDEQ) (20) is the most commonly employed measure and has been used in several countries (1-3, 30-32).…”

Section: Sample 6 (Usa)mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…items about the potential death of the baby or uncontrollable screaming during labour) (20,28). Some of the one or two item scales could have been adapted for use with young adults; we adapted one such scale (24) to test the discriminant validity of our new measure. Nonetheless, we perceived one or two item scales as failing to capture the complexities of childbirth fear among young adults; knowledge of these complexities would be important to develop interventions to reduce childbirth fear.…”

Section: Development Of the Instrumentmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Convergent validity is achieved when a new scale is highly correlated with a scale that measures the same construct; discriminant validity is supported when the correlational coefficients between a new scale and existing scales that measures different constructs are low. Convergent validity was computed by correlating the CFPP scores with a two-item visual analog scale called the Fear of birth Scale (FOBS), adapted from Haines and colleagues (2011) (24). In the original version, pregnant women are asked to mark two 100 millimetre VAS-scales 11 anchored by the words: calm /worried and no fear/strong fear.…”

Section: Psychometric Assessmentmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…To create a scale score, scores from the two VAS scales are averaged. The original two-item VAS was administered to women in Australia and Sweden (Cronbach's alpha=0.91) and to expectant fathers in Sweden (24,39). We chose this measure because it is a short fear of birth scale that was easily adapted to apply to men and women contemplating pregnancy.…”

Section: Psychometric Assessmentmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 2 more Smart Citations

Cross-cultural development and psychometric evaluation of a measure to assess fear of childbirth prior to pregnancy

Stoll

Hauck

Downe

et al. 2016

Sexual & Reproductive Healthcare

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Background: Assessment of childbirth fear, in advance of pregnancy, and early identification of modifiable factors contributing to fear can inform public health initiatives and/or school-based educational programming for the next generation of maternity care consumers. We developed and evaluated a short fear of birth scale that incorporates the most common dimensions of fear reported by men and women prior to pregnancy, fear of: labour pain, being out of control and unable to cope with labour and birth, complications, and irreversible physical damage.Methods: University students in six countries (Australia, Canada, England, Germany, Iceland, and the United States, n=2240) participated in an online survey to assess their fears and attitudes about birth. We report internal consistency reliability, corrected-itemto-total correlations, factor loadings and convergent and discriminant validity of the new scale. Results:The Childbirth Fear -Prior to Pregnancy (CFPP) scale showed high internal consistency across samples (α >0.86). All corrected-item-to total correlations exceeded 0.45, supporting the uni-dimensionality of the scale. Construct validity of the CFPP was supported by a high correlation between the new scale and a two-item visual analog scale that measures fear of birth (r >0.6 across samples). Weak correlations of the CFPP with 2 scores on measures that assess related psychological states (anxiety, depression and stress) support the discriminant validity of the scale. Conclusion:The CFPP is a short, reliable and valid measure of childbirth fear among young women and men in six countries who plan to have children. Highlights• Fear of childbirth can precede pregnancy and is associated with preferences for cesarean section among young men and women who plan to have children in the future.• Assessing fear of birth and associated factors for young adults in different countries is an important first step in understanding why some young women and men are afraid of childbirth and how this issue might be addressed.• We developed a 10-item fear of birth scale that incorporates the main dimensions of fear reported by young adults in the literature, including fear of: labour pain, bodily damage, and complications.• The Childbirth Fear -Prior to Pregnancy (CFPP) scale had high internal consistency reliability across samples, measured one underlying construct, was highly correlated with another measure of childbirth fear, and was weakly correlated with measures of depression, anxiety and stress.

show abstract

History of Fear and Childbearing

O’Connell

2019

Understanding Anxiety, Worry and Fear in Childbearing

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Cross-cultural comparison of levels of childbirth-related fear in an Australian and Swedish sample

Cited by 200 publications

References 33 publications

The Fear of Childbirth: A Study in the North of Portugal

The Fear of Childbirth: A Study in the North of Portugal

Cross-cultural development and psychometric evaluation of a measure to assess fear of childbirth prior to pregnancy

History of Fear and Childbearing

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About