Publication

Abstract : Preparing the women for childbirth and to help her go through a successful birth experience isan important role of a nurse midwife. The purpose of the present study is to assess the effectivenessof childbirth education on childbirth experiences of pregnant women in a tertiary hospital, Kerala,South India. A Quasi experimental appraoach with pretest-posttest control group design was usedfor the study. The sample consisted of forty primigravid women attending the Obstetric Outpatientdepartment, in the age group of 18-35 years, gestational age of 35 weeks or above and without anycomplications. The first twenty women were assigned consecutively to the control group and nexttwenty to control group. Childbirth expectancy was measured using Wijma Delivery ExpectancyQuestionnaire (Version A) before the intervention in both groups. Women in the experimentalgroup received childbirth education. Childbirth experience was measured using Wijma DeliveryExperience Questionnaire (Version B) following childbirth. The finding of the study shows thatchildbirth expectancy score of the experimental (57.10±15.88) and the control group (58.80±14)was not significantly different before childbirth. Whereas childbirth experience score of experimentalgroup (38.00 ± 11.85) was lower than the control group (65.25 ± 18.85) which was statisticallysignificant at 0.001 level. Results of the present study suggest that childbirth experience of thewomen can be improved with childbirth education.