Assessment of Experienced Fear of Birth and Parenting Behavior in Early Postpartum Period

Abstract

Aim: This study was conducted to evaluate of relationship between fear levels of birth and parenting behaviors of mothers in early postpartum periods and to determine some demographic factors that affected this. Method: This study is a cross-sectional study carried out between January and April 2018 in Sakarya. Inclusion criteria for study are women in the Postpartum Service who had vaginal delivery and in postpartum first 4 hours. Student T test, One Way Anova and Pearson Correlation Analysis were performed with the help of Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) program. Statistical significance was accepted as p<0,05. Results: The age of the study group ranged from 18 to 42 years with an average of 27.25±5.19 years. The mean score for the Wijma Delivery Expectancy / Experience Questionnaire B version was 107.76±15.00 and the mean score for the Postpartum Parenting Behavior Scale was 4.26±1.05. There was no relationship between maternal birth experienceand early postpartum parenting behaviors (r=-0.072; p=0.108). Conclusions: There was no relationship between maternal experiences of birth and early parenting behaviors. However, it was determined that mothers had a clinical level of fear at birth, whereas the mean level of early parenting behaviors was moderate.

Keywords

• fear of birth
• parenting behavior
• postnatal care