Coping with labor pain

Abstract

This exploratory study aimed to examine the nature, origin, and effectiveness of pain coping strategies used during childbirth. The labor pain of 51 British women was assessed around the time of birth by visual analogue scales and the McGill Pain Questionnaire. The use of pain coping strategies and their origins was established through the analysis of data obtained in an extended semi-structured interview. Subjects were found to use a range of strategies during labor, many of which they had previously used to cope with pain. The nature of these strategies was, in essence, similar to that described in the empirical literature on pain coping, though it appeared that strategies had often been acquired informally as well as through structured training. The total number of strategies used in labor was negatively correlated with levels of labor pain.