The effect of childbirth preparation courses on anxiety and self-efficacy in coping with childbirth

Abstract

Objective: To evaluate the effect of childbirth preparation courses on anxiety and self-efficacy levels in coping with childbirth. Methods: A study was conducted on a convenience sample of nulliparous women. The intervention groups consisted of 31 women who attended a 5-week childbirth preparation course and 39 women who attended a 2-week course. A control group included 32 women who did not attend any of the childbirth preparation courses. Levels of anxiety and self-efficacy were measured before and after childbirth preparation courses. The setting was a large teaching hospital in central Israel. Results: After completing the preparation courses the anxiety level dropped significantly in the long and short course groups ( p = .04 and p = .01, respectively). The anxiety in both groups was significantly related to the self-efficacy for coping with childbirth ( r = -0.26, p = .03 and r = -0.48, p = .001, respectively). Nonetheless, attending the preparation courses did not raise the level of self-efficacy in coping with childbirth. Anxiety and self-efficacy levels in the control group were not significantly different from those of the other groups. Conclusions: Preparation courses are expected to reinforce the self-efficacy of the parturient. The overall impact of the findings indicated that while they had no effect on self-efficacy, they did constitute an anxiety-reducing factor. Midwife postgraduate programs should include training in preparing women for coping with childbirth. These findings are an important contribution to the examination of current strategies of teaching and training of midwives in conducting childbirth preparation courses.