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Relationships between partner’s support during labour and maternal outcomes
Author(s) -
Ip Wan Yim
Publication year - 2000
Publication title -
journal of clinical nursing
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.94
H-Index - 102
eISSN - 1365-2702
pISSN - 0962-1067
DOI - 10.1046/j.1365-2702.2000.00358.x
Subject(s) - anxiety , visual analogue scale , scale (ratio) , psychology , perception , social support , medicine , clinical psychology , psychiatry , physical therapy , social psychology , physics , quantum mechanics , neuroscience
• The objective of this study was to measure the relationship between women’s ratings of partners’ participation during labour and maternal outcomes as measured by anxiety level, pain perception, dosage of pain‐relieving drug used and length of labour. • A convenience sample of 45 primigravid women was selected from the postpartum unit of a public hospital in Hong Kong. They were all first‐time Chinese mothers, aged 18 or over, who had attended antenatal classes and had their partners present during labour. • The State Scale of the State‐Trait Anxiety Inventory was used to measure maternal anxiety during labour. Labour pain was measured by the Visual Analogue Scale. A series of scales were developed to measure partners’ participation during labour. • Women’s ratings of partners’ practical support were significantly lower than their ratings of partners’ emotional support. There were no significant associations between level of emotional support and maternal outcome measures. However, perceived practical support was positively related to the dosage of pain‐relieving drug used and total length of labour. Positive relationships between the duration of partners’ presence and women’s ratings of perceived support provided by partners during labour were also found.