A Study on Primiparous Husband's State Anxiety, Perceived Support and the Perception of Childbirth Experience

Abstract

Purpose: To compare the difference of state anxiety, perceived support, and childbirth experience perception, between the primiparous's husband who participated in actual labor and delivery process with her wife after finishing Lamaze childbirth class education and the husband who did not finished Lamaze childbirth class, for providing the basic data for effective nursing intervention and pre-childbirth educational program development for husbands. Method: At one general hospital located in Kyunggi-do and one clinic in Seoul, from April 6th to May 12th, 2003, the subjects were 146 including 67 primipara's husbands who participated in the 5-week Lamaze educational program and 79 primipara's husbands who didn't, using structuralized questionnaire. Analysis: Mean, frequency, percentage, 2-test, and t-test were used by SPSS 10.0 program. Result: The sub-hypothesis 1, 'there are significant differences between anxiety of the group who participated in Lamaze and who didn't' was not accepted(t=-1.043, p=.299). The sub-hypothesis 2, 'there are significant differences between anxiety by cervical dilatation the group who participated in Lamaze program and who didn't' was not accepted(t=-1.123, P=.263, t=-.356, P=.722, t=-1.879, P=.062). The hypothesis 3, 'there are significant differences between perceived support of the group who participated in Lamaze program and who didn't' was accepted(t=4.860, P=.000). Especially, the obstetrical support of the group who participated in Lamaze program, which could reduce delivering pain, was higher. The hypothesis 4, 'there are significant differences between the perception of childbirth-labor experience of the group who participated in Lamaze program and who didn't' was accepted(t=2.816, P=.006). Conclusion: The Lamaze program was a effective nursing intervention for husband's affirmative perception of childbirth-labor experience as well as husband's role as active supporters during labor process. The change of present woman-centered pre-childbirth education into both partner-centered education stressing on husband's needs, viewpoint and role as a supporter should be considered. Therefore, hospital administrators should pay more attention on enhancing the opportunities of husband for pre-birth education and participating in the process of labor as a family-centered nursing intervention.