Hanzade Kayar, Nurcan Akbas Gunes
Eurasian Journal of Family Medicine - 2025;14(4):171-177
Aim: This study aims to evaluate the levels of childbirth fear during pregnancy, the frequency of pregnancy complaints and quality of life, and to evaluate the relationship between them. Methods: Data was collected using the Sociodemographic Information Form, the WIJMA Childbirth Expectation/Experience Scale, and the Pregnancy Complaints and Impact on Quality -of-Life Scale. To compare group differences, the t -test for independent groups, the Mann -Whitney U test, one -way ANOVA, and Kruskal -Wallis H test were used. Results: The study was conducted among 339 pregnant women. It was found that 15.9% of the participants had mild, 28.3% had moderate, 26.5% had severe, and 29.2% had clinical fear of childbirth. Childbirth fear was observed to increase with the frequency of miscarr iages/abortion/stillbirths. The highest Impact on Quality -of-Life Scale score was observed in the third trimester and the lowest in the first trimester. The Impact on Quality -of-Life Scale score was observed to increase with decreasing age and increasing p roblems during pregnancy. In other occupational groups, except for housewives, civil servants, and manual workers, the Impact on Quality -of-Life Scale score was lower. It was observed that as the level of childbirth fear increased during pregnancy, the Imp act on Quality -of-Life Scale scores increased. Conclusion: More than half of the pregnant women have been diagnosed with severe and clinical levels of childbirth fear. In addition, it was determined that childbirth fear exacerbates pregnancy -related complaints.
