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April 23, 2026Open Access

The effect of education, individual counseling, and labor support provided to primigravidas on birth fear, birth expectations, birth satisfaction, and perception of supportive care

Key Points

To determine the effects of prenatal education, individual counseling, and labor support on fear of childbirth and overall birth experience among primigravid women.
Conducted a single-group pretest-post-test design with 151 pregnant women.
Utilized various questionnaires to measure fear, expectations, and satisfaction related to birth.
Performed statistical analyses including independent t-tests, ANOVA, and regression analyses.
Significant reduction in fear of childbirth as indicated by changes in W-DEQ scores (p < 0.05).
A notable negative correlation was found between perceived supportive care and fear scores, explaining 29.5% of variance.
Supportive care showed a strong effect on satisfaction with labor experiences, accounting for 36.5% of variance in birth satisfaction scores.

Abstract

Women giving birth for the first time may experience fear of childbirth. The study was conducted to determine the impact of prenatal education, individual counseling, and labor support on fear of childbirth among primigravid women, as well as to identify the relationship between perception of supportive care and birth experience and satisfaction among women undergoing vaginal birth. The research was conducted with 151 pregnant women using the “single-group pretest–post-test design”, one of the pre-experimental designs. Data were collected using the “Sociodemographic Data Form”, the “Wijma Delivery Expectancy/Experience Questionnaire- W-DEQ Version A”, the “W-DEQ Version B”, the “Birth Satisfaction Scale Revised-BSS-R”, and the “Scale of Women's Perception of Supportive Care Given During Labor- SWPSC” Descriptive statistics were presented as frequency, percentage, and mean values. Independent samples t-test and one-way analysis of variance were performed to analyze group differences. Regression analysis was conducted to determine supportive care effects on BSS-R and W-DEQ B scores. Solutions were obtained using the Newey–West algorithm to meet the model's assumptions. This study was written using the STROBE checklist. Of the pregnant women included in the study, 72.2% underwent cesarean section, while 27.8% had a vaginal birth. Labor started spontaneously in 48.6% of pregnant women who underwent cesarean section and in 95.2% of pregnant women who had a vaginal birth . A statistically significant difference was found between the W-DEQ A pretest and post-test scores (p < 0.05). A significant negative correlation was found between W-DEQ B and SWPSC scores, explaining 29.5% of the variance (r = −0.295, p = 0.03). According to the model, SWPSC scores explained 36.5% of the variance in BSS-R scores and 29.7% in W-DEQ B scores. Prenatal pregnancy education and individual counseling provided to primigravid women significantly reduced the level of fear of childbirth. The labor support provided to women undergoing vaginal delivery increased their perception of supportive care and reduced their fear of childbirth.

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Cite This Study

MUMCU et al. (Tue,) studied this question.

synapsesocial.com/papers/69e9b8d485696592c86ebee3 https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1186/s12884-026-09135-9

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