The effect of personality traits on pain perception and maternal self-confidence in the postpartum period: A cross-sectional study

Abstract

Aim: This research was conducted to determine the effect of personality traits of postpartum women on pain perception and maternal self-confidence. Material and methods: The population of this study, which was designed as a descriptive cross-sectional study, was determined as 202 with a confidence interval of 0.95 and a power of 0.95 to represent the universe, according to the power analysis. The study was completed with 258 puerperant women. Data were collected with the "Personal Description Form", "Ten-Item Personality Scale (TIPS)", “Visual Analog Scale (VAS)” and "Pharis Self-Confidence Scale (PSCS)". In the statistical evaluation, descriptive statistics (percentage, mean, standard deviation), Pearson's correlation and multiple linear regression analysis were used. Results: According to VAS, 25.2% of the participants had severe pain in the legs, 27.1 % in the abdomen, 46.4% in the waist, 17.4% in the chest, 30.3% in the head, 9.4% in the knee, 25.5% in the hips and 43% in the perineum region. The total mean score of the PSCS was 43.72±11.8. It was found that there was a significant correlation between TIPS sub-dimensions and pain regions and total PSCS score averages (p<0.001, p<0.05). As a result of multiple linear regression analysis, it was determined that the personality traits of women predicted pain and maternal self-confidence negatively and the models were statistically significant (p<0.05). Conclusions: It has been determined that personality traits have an effect on pain perception and maternal self-confidence. In line with the results obtained, midwifery interventions should be planned to reduce the perception of pain and increase maternal self-confidence.

Keywords

• postpartum
• personality traits
• pain
• maternal confidence