A comparison of childbirth preparation and non-preparation on selected physiological variables and attitudes to pregnancy and delivery in private patients

The sample was selected according to the following restrictions:

1. The physiological data collected were from private patient records of women who delivered their child between March 1, 1980 and May 31, 1980.

2. Only women who delivered their child vaginally (not by Caesarean section) were included in the study.

3. Only women who delivered a single child (not multiple births) were included in the study.

4. Only women who delivered a live infant (not stillborn) were included in the study.

5. Only primiparous (those women having their first child) were included in the study.

The physiological data were gathered from 60 randomly selected private patient hospital records. The physiological data included the amount and type of medication used, duration of first and second stage labor, general health of the infant as measured by the Apgar Score and birth weight, the incidence of spontaneous deliveries, and duration of the hospital stay. The attitudinal data were collected by mail iv

using the Maternal Attitude to Pregnancy Instrument.

The physiological data were analyzed using the analysis of variance and chi-square test. The Mann-Whitney U and discriminant analysis procedures were employed in the analysis of the psychological (attitudinal) data.

Significant differences were found between the prepared childbirth group and non-prepared group on maternal attitudes to pregnancy and delivery. The prepared childbirth group was found to have more positive attitudes to pregnancy and delivery than the non-prepared group.

No significant differences were found between the two groups on the following physiological variables:

1. Amount of medication used.

2. Type of medication used (either conduction or local anesthesia).

3. The duration of labor.

4. The Apgar Score of the infant.

5. The birth weight of the infant.

6. The incidence of spontaneous deliveries.

7. The duration of the hospital stay.

The childbirth preparation group was found to be significantly older than the non-prepared group. The two groups were also found to differ significantly on the method of feeding of the infant. Those subjects in the prepared group were more likely to breast feed their infant, while those subjects in the non-prepared group were more likely to bottle feed.

From the analysis of data, the following conclusions were made:

1. Formal childbirth preparation should not be viewed as a mechanism to improve the physiological aspects of labor and delivery. However, formal childbirth preparation provided no evidence of adverse physical effects on labor and delivery.

2. The newborn infant does not benefit physically from maternal participation in formal childbirth preparation as demonstrated by the evaluative procedures in this study. However, maternal participation in formal childbirth preparation provided no evidence of adverse physical effects on the infant as demonstrated by the evaluative procedures in this study.

3. Positive attitudinal changes can be derived from maternal participation in formal childbirth preparation.