Does Fear of Childbirth Predict Emergency Cesarean Section in Primiparous Women?

Background & Aim: Effect of women's psychological status on delivery processes is proven. Studies showed that women who experience severe anxiety were more vulnerable for getting emergency cesarean, and physical and psychological complications. Cesarean section is a surgery in which a lot of complications may occur. As primiparous women experience more fear than the other women and also delivery outcomes in first delivery affect later deliveries; this study aimed to study the relationship between fears from vaginal delivery with the occurrence of emergency cesarean in primiparous women. Methods & Materials: In this cross-sectional study, 243 primiparous women were recruited randomly from Nicknafs hospital during a six months period in 2004. Data were gathered through face-to-face interviewing with the respondents using a structured questionnaire. This questionnaire was included demographic information, reasons for fear from vaginal delivery, and method of delivery. Data were analyzed using χ2 test in SPSS. Results: Seven percent of the respondents stated that they did not fear from Normal Vaginal Delivery (NVD). Most of the respondents (44.4%) reported that they slightly fear from NVD and 26.3% said that they fear much from vaginal delivery. A relatively high percent of women (22.3%) stated that they extremely fear from NVD. The most mentioned reasons by the women for fear were pain (%68/3), and fetal injury (30%). There was a significant relationship between fear and method of delivery (P<0.001). Conclusion: It is essential that midwives consider the fear from NVD in their routine cares.   Key words: emergency cesarean, fear of delivery, primiparou