Guided Imagery and Positive Birth Experience Sharing on Fear of Childbirth and Self-Efficacy

ConditionChildbirth

Trial statusNot yet recruiting

Trial phaseNot applicable

Trial typeInterventional

Biological sexFemale

Age18+

SponsorGazi University

About this trial

Abstract This study will be conducted to determine the effect of sharing positive birth experiences and mental imagery on birth self-efficacy and fear of childbirth. The study is a single-center, parallel-group, stratified block (in terms of fear of childbirth level) randomized controlled experimental study. The study sample will consist of a total of 84 participants, with 42 in the intervention group and 42 in the control group. The study is planned to be conducted between July 1, 2025, and July 1, 2026. Inclusion criteria for the study are: WİJMA A scale score average below 85, age over 18, being primiparous, being in the 20th to 26th week of pregnancy, having no complications in the mother or fetus during pregnancy (gestational diabetes, hypertension, preeclampsia, intrauterine growth restriction, congenital anomalies, etc.), having no communication problems (mental, auditory, visual, language, etc.), and volunteering to participate in the study. The study data will be collected using a personal information form, the Wijma Childbirth Expectancy/Experience Scale Version A (W-DEQ A), and the Childbirth Self-Efficacy Scale-Short Form (CBSEI-C32). Women will be invited to participate in online training sessions in groups of 3-10 people. Positive birth stories will be shared with the women, and visualization exercises will be demonstrated. Following the training sessions, the follow-up phase of the study will begin, and women will be provided with an audio recording of the visualization guidelines in MP3 format. Women will be asked to perform visualization exercises at least once or twice daily for a minimum of eight weeks. No intervention will be applied to the control group.

Eligibility criteria

This trial accepts healthy volunteers

Qualifiers

The WIJMA A scale score average should be below 85, be over 18 years of age, be primiparous, be in the 20-26th week of pregnancy, not have any complications in the mother or fetus during pregnancy (gestational diabetes, hypertension, preeclampsia, intrauterine growth retardation, congenital anomaly, etc.), not have any communication problems (mental, auditory, visual, language, etc.), and be willing to participate in the study.

Disqualifiers

Failure to perform post-tests,

Participant's wish to withdraw from the study at any stage of the study,

Pregnancy turning into a risky pregnancy,

Birth occurring before the 37th week of pregnancy,

Trial design

Design model

Parallel

Treatments tested in this trial

Guided Imagery and Positive Birth Experience Sharing
Behavioral
The positive experience will be shared by one of the researchers and the pregnant women's questions will be answered after the sharing. The mental imagery techniques prepared by Rossman (2015) to facilitate birth will be used for the mental imagery application. After the training, the mental imagery instructions will be given to the pregnant women as an audio recording in mp3 format. The pregnant women will be asked to do the mental imagery once or twice a day for at least 8 weeks. The mental imagery application takes approximately 20 minutes. The pregnant women will be reminded to do the application every day via the Whatsapp® application. The pregnant women will be asked to mark whether they do the application every day or not on the weekly follow-up chart.

Treatment groups

84 Participants

are divided into 2 treatment groups

Group A: experimental groupExperimental treatment 1 intervention

Group B: control groupNo intervention 0 interventions

Trial outcomes

Primary outcomes

Difference of scores of the Wijma Childbirth Expectation/Experience Scale Version A

There is a difference between the intervention and control groups in terms of the mean post-test scores of the Wijma Childbirth Expectation/Experience Scale Version A. The minimum score that can be obtained from the scale is 0, and the maximum score is 165. High scores indicate that women have a high fear of childbirth. W-DEQ A score ≤37 indicates mild, 38-65 indicates moderate, 66-84 indicates severe, and ≥85 indicates clinical level fear.

Time frame

8 weeks

Difference of scores of the Labor Self-Efficacy Scale-Short Form.

There is a difference between the intervention and control groups in terms of the mean post-test scores of the Labor Self-Efficacy Scale-Short Form.The scale has two sub-dimensions: outcome and adequacy expectations. Each sub-dimension of the scale consists of 16 questions. The lowest score that can be obtained from the scale sub-dimensions is 16, and the highest score is 160. A high score obtained from the sub-dimensions indicates that pregnant women have high adequacy and outcome expectations regarding birth. Responses on the Likert-type scale are scored from 1 to 10. The lowest total score that can be obtained from the scale is 32, and the highest score is 320. High scores obtained from the scale indicate that pregnant women have high levels of self-efficacy in labor.

Time frame

8 weeks

Sponsors and contacts

Click on the lead sponsor to view all of their trials.

Gazi University

Lead sponsor

Source ClinicalTrials.gov

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