Childbirth expectations and correlates at the final stage of pregnancy in Chinese expectant parents

Purpose: To explore the childbirth expectations of Chinese expectant parents during their transition to parenthood. Methods: A cross-sectional descriptive survey was used through the Chinese version of the Childbirth Expectations Questionnaire. A total of 240 expectant parents were recruited when they were admitted to the obstetric units waiting for delivery at a large Maternal and Child Health care Center in Beijing, and 210 couples completed the questionnaires, yielding a response rate of 87.5%. Results: The expectant parents had a high level of childbirth expectations towards caregiving environment, spousal support, control and participation and medical support. Conversely, their expectations toward labor pain and their own ability to cope with the pain were relatively low. Expectant fathers' childbirth expectations and preference of partner's accompany were two significant predictors of expectant mothers' childbirth expectations, explaining 18.9% and 3.3% of the total variance, respectively. While expectant mothers' childbirth expectations was the only significant predictor of expectant fathers' childbirth expectations. Conclusion: This study adds to understanding of the childbirth expectations of Chinese expectant parents. It is suggested that maternity healthcare providers pay close attention to the childbirth expectations of expectant parents, and improve the nursing care service to promote positive childbirth experiences and satisfaction of expectant parents