BACKGROUND Childbirth confidence is an important marker of women's coping abilities during labour and birth. This study investigated socio-demographic, obstetric and psychological factors affecting self-efficacy in childbearing women. METHOD This paper presents a secondary analysis of data collected as part of the BELIEF study (Birth Emotions - Looking to Improve Expectant Fear). Women (n = 1...

This book is the result of an attempt to understand and explain the reaction of women to the pain of childbirth. The author achieves his goal wonderfully! The early history or obstetric anesthesia is explained in marvelous detail, with Simpson, Snow, Meigs, Channing, Queen Victoria, etc. It was the Queen who said "What a blessing she had chloroform," referring to her daughter Victoria's first o...

Acute pain is the most commonly experienced type of pain throughout the world. It is an important aspect of injury, surgery, childbirth, and acute medical illness. Road traffi c accidents and violence, which inevitably lead to severe pain, are among the leading causes of death and disability in many developing countries. Acute pain also accounts for more than two-thirds of visits to the emergen...

This book is the result of an attempt to understand and explain the reaction of women to the pain of childbirth. The author achieves his goal wonderfully! The early history or obstetric anesthesia is explained in marvelous detail, with Simpson, Snow, Meigs, Channing, Queen Victoria, etc. It was the Queen who said "What a blessing she had chloroform," referring to her daughter Victoria's first o...

This study investigated the reasons that might lead women to choose or not choose epidural analgesia as a strategy for the management of pain in childbirth. In our sample 55% of 114 women chose EA. Logistic regression resulted in a statistical model with four unique and independent predictors: Parity status and the fear of the side effects of EA each reduced the odds of choosing EA by half, whe...

Reported prevalence rates of persistent postpartum pain (PPP) range from less than 1% to almost 20%. The aim of this study was to examine the prevalence of PPP in a Dutch cohort and to evaluate a possible causal role for specific risk factors on the development of chronic pain after childbirth. A questionnaire was sent to 960 postpartum women approximately 2 years after delivery. Primary outcom...

BACKGROUND Continuous support by a midwife during childbirth has shown positive effects on the duration of active labour, use of pain relief and frequency of caesarean section (CS) in women without fear of childbirth (FOC). We have evaluated how continuous support by a specially assigned midwife during childbirth affects birth outcome and the subjective experience of women with severe FOC. ME...