The effects of hydrotherapy during active phase of birth on gestation, maternal satisfaction and postnatal parenthood attitudes

The experiement study aims to investigate the effects of hydrotherapy during active phase of birth on gestation, maternal satisfaction and postnatal parenthood attitudes. It was performed in Ankara Zekai Tahir Burak Women Health Training and Research Hospital on 07 November 2015- 30 June 2016. The sample included total of 80 pregnant women (nexperiment=40, ncontrol=40). As a data collection tool, maternal several sociodemographic features form "Pregnant Diagnostic Form", gestational follow-up form "Pregnant Follow-up Form", postnatal follow-up form "Postnatal Follow-up Form- ", "Postpartum Parenting Behaviour Scale", "Labor Agentry Scale" were used. Ki-kare test, Fisher's precise possibility test, Yatest Ki-kare test, Mann Whitney U, Kruskal Wallis test, one way Variance analyze (ANOVA), Tukey LSD, and Pearson Korelasyon test, Spearman Correlation Test, median, standard deviation, minimum, maximum values, numbers and percentiles were used to evaluate data. P<0.05 was used for statistically significance. In the study, the mean age of the pregnant women was 24.42±4.33 in control group, 23.88±4.05 in experiement group (p˃0.05). Most of the pregnant women in the study had education level lower than high school and did not work for money, had a marriage period longer than 3 years and lived in urban cities (p˃0.05). When compared with the control group, gestational responses were better in hydrotherapy experiement group, pain score decreased during pain, active phase and second phase of birth shortened (p˂0.05). In addition the frequency, severity and duration of contractions, fetal heart rate, maternal diastolic and systolic blood pressures and pulse rates decreased. Besides, apgar scores of neonates were higher, mothers have positive emotions and parethood attitudes were more positive in the experiement group during the postnatal period (p˂0.05).In conclusion, we recommend hydrotherapy as a common intervention in maternity ward and the nurses should gain experience and active positions in this field. Keywords: Maternal satisfaction, postnatal parenthood attitudes, nursing hydrotherapy