Assessment of the level of anxiety and pain in women who do and do not attend childbirth classes during the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic

Figures & data

Table 1 Characteristics of the Study Groups

Group Parameter	A1 (n=38)				B1 (n=34)			p
	Mean	Median	SD		Mean	Median	SD
Age (years, months)	30.4	30.5	5.0		30.3	30.5	5.0	0.991*
Body weight at the time of birth (kg)	77.0	75.5	12.4		77.2	76.0	12.2	0.938*
Height (cm)	166.5	165.0	6.0		164.6	165.0	6.2	0.502**
BMI At the time of birth (kg/m^2)	27.8	27.1	4.1		28.7	28.9	5.5	0.088*
Week of gestation	39.8	40.0	1.1		39.5	39.0	1.1	0.169**

Notes: A1 - group of women who attended childbirth classes; B1 - group of women who did not attend childbirth classes *Student’s t-test for independent variables; **Non-parametric Mann Whitney U-test.

Figure 1 Percentage of women who attended childbirth classes during the lockdown caused by the SARS-cov-2 pandemic, by multiple births and primiparas.

Table 2 Evaluation of Anxiety Level According to Delivery Fear Scale in Groups A1 and B1

Group Phrase*	A1 (n=38)			B1 (n=34)			P*
	Mean	Median	SD	Mean	Median	SD
I can stand the pain	7.7	8.0	2.9	6.6	8.0	3.6	0.361
I feel very helpless	5.	5.0	3.4	5.3	5.5	3.7	0.710
This feels positive	6.9	8.0	2.8	6.3	7.5	3.8	0.761
This feels as if I will never be able to get out of here	5.8	6.5	3.8	5.1	5.5	3.8	0.315
I can manage this	7.5	9.0	2.9	6.6	7.0	3.3	0.213
I do not want to go on any more	4.7	4.0	3.7	4.1	3.5	3.6	0.558
In the midst of all this I feel happy	5.6	5.5	3.4	5.1	5.0	3.6	0.548
I feel as if I will give up soon	4.1	3.0	3.4	4.2	2.5	3.8	0.822
This is taking forever	5.4	5.5	4.0	4.8	5.0	3.8	0.417
I feel calm	5.2	5.0	3.1	4.6	5.0	3.4	0.378

Notes: A1 - group of women who attended childbirth classes; B1 - group of women who did not attend childbirth classes, p - non-parametric Mann Whitney U-test. *Delivery Fear Scale phrases reprinted by permission of the publisher (Taylor & Francis Ltd, http://tandfonline.com) from: Wijma K, Alehagen S, Wijma B. Development of the Delivery Fear Scale. Journal of Psychosomatic Obstetrics & Gynecology. 2002;23(2):97–107. Copyright 2002 Taylor & Francis. Published online 07 Jul 2009.¹⁴

Table 3 Level of Correlation Between Anxiety Expressed by the Delivery Fear Scale and Selected Sociodemographic Factors

Variable N=72 Phrase*	Age	BMI at Birth	Week of Gestation
I can stand the pain	0.123 (p=0.304)	0.090 (p=0.450)	0.436 (p=0.255)
I feel very helpless	0.006 (p=0.960)	−0.187 (p=0.116)	0.106 (p=0.377)
This feels positive	−0.059 (p=0.621)	0.061 (p=0.612)	−0.108 (p=0.365)
This feels as if I will never be able to get out of here	−0.215 (p=0.069)	−0.340 (p=0.003)	0.238 (p=0.044)
I can manage this	−0.065 (p=0.615)	−0.038 (p=0.750)	−0.164 (p=0.167)
I do not want to go on any more	−0.092 (p=0.444)	−0.187 (p=0.115)	0.288 (p=0.014)
In the midst of all this I feel happy	−0.125 (p=0.297)	0.027 (p=0.833)	−0.235 (p=0.047)
I feel as if I will give up soon	0.032 (p=0.788)	−0.069 (p=0.563)	0.328 (p=0.005)
This is taking forever	−0.059 (p=0.623)	−0.148 (p=0.214)	0.222 (p=0.061)
I feel calm	−0.090 (p=0.454)	0.013 (p=0.917)	−0.265 (p=0.025)

Notes: *Delivery Fear Scale phrases reprinted by permission of the publisher (Taylor & Francis Ltd, http://tandfonline.com) from: Wijma K, Alehagen S, Wijma B. Development of the Delivery Fear Scale. Journal of Psychosomatic Obstetrics & Gynecology. 2002;23(2):97–107. Copyright 2002 Taylor & Francis. Published online 07 Jul 2009.¹⁴

Abbreviations: N, number of participants; BMI, body mass index.

Table 4 Pain Level in Women Giving Birth Naturally without Anesthesia in Both Groups

Group Pain Intensity	Group A2 (n=21)			Group B2 (n=22)			p
	Mean	Mediana	SD	Mean	Mediana	SD
Mean pain	6.9	7.0	2.0	7.3	7.0	2.0	0.512
Maximum pain	9.2	10.0	1.0	9.4	10.0	1.0	0.610

Notes: A2 – a group of women who gave birth naturally without anaesthesia and attended childbirth classes; B1 - a group of women who gave birth naturally without anaesthesia and did not attend childbirth classes, p - Student’s t-test for independent variables.

Table 5 Relationship Between the Level of Anxiety and the Perception of Average and Maximum Pain in the Group of Women Who Gave Birth Naturally without Anaesthesia

Spearman’s Rank Correlation Phrase*	Mean Pain		Maximum Pain
	R	p	R	p
I can stand the pain	−0.388	0.010	−0.261	0.091
I feel very helpless	0.434	0.004	0.307	0.045
This feels positive	−0.459	0.002	−0.361	0.017
This feels as if I will never be able to get out of here	0.415	0.006	0.576	0.000
I can manage this	−0.411	0.006	−0.377	0.013
I do not want to go on any more	0.374	0.013	0.385	0.011
In the midst of all this I feel happy	−0.276	0.073	−0.442	0.003
I feel as if I will give up soon	0.244	0.115	0.424	0.005
This is taking forever	0.237	0.126	0.340	0.026
I feel calm	−0.183	0.239	−0.435	0.004

Notes: *Delivery Fear Scale phrases reprinted by permission of the publisher (Taylor & Francis Ltd, http://tandfonline.com) from: Wijma K, Alehagen S, Wijma B. Development of the Delivery Fear Scale. Journal of Psychosomatic Obstetrics & Gynecology. 2002;23(2):97–107. Copyright 2002 Taylor & Francis. Published online 07 Jul 2009.¹⁴

Wijma K, Alehagen S, Wijma B. Development of the delivery fear scale. J Psychosom Obstet Gynaecol. 2002;23(2):97–107. [ PMID: 12189903]. doi:10.3109/01674820209042791

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