Level of Labor Pain, Level of Labor Pain Behaviors, and Cultural Pain Behaviors among First-Time Indonesian Muslim Mothers

Abstract

Background: Many factors influence the expressions of pain in primiparous women aside from contractions of the uterus. Objective: This study aimed to describe the level labor pain, level of labor pain behaviors based on cultural pain behaviors at 3 - 4 cm of cervical dilation or the beginning of the active phase of labor among primiparous Muslim women in Indonesia. Methods: This was a study with 42 primiparous Muslim women who gave birth in the labor room at Bhinneka Bhakti Husada Hospital and Community Health Center Pamulang, Indonesia from June until January 2017. The women were asked to describe on a 100 mm Visual Analogue Scale the intensity of level of labor pain in their abdomen during the last contractions at 3 - 4 cm of cervical dilation, and Pain Behaviors Observation Scale to observe pain behaviors. Descriptive statistics were used to analyze the data. Results: The findings showed that the mean score of level of labor pain at 3 - 4 cm of cervical dilation was 86.38 (SD = 4.47) and most participants experienced high level of labor pain (97.6%). The expression of cultural labor pain behaviors including saying praises to Allah, Asma’aul husna, reciting the Qur’an, sholawat.