The feeling of discomfort and self- esteem experienced by women in the vaginal examination during the birth process

Objective: This study was planned to evaluate the feeling of discomfort and self-esteem experienced by women during vaginal examination during childbirth. Method: The research was carried out on women who applied to the Tire State Hospital Maternity Service Department, which is a state hospital affiliated to the Izmir Provincial Health Directorate in the Tire district of Izmir. The study, which was conducted with an analytical cross-sectional approach, was carried out on 253 women. Research data were collected using Personal and Obstetric Characteristics Form, Questionnaire for Vaginal Examination during Birth, Questionnaire for Feeling of Discomfort during Vaginal Examination at Birth, and Two-Dimensional Self-Esteem: Adaptation of the Self-Liking/Self-Competence Scale. Data were collected in the early postnatal period, within 24 hours of birth. SPSS (Statistical Package for Social Sciences for Windows 22) (SPSS Inc., Chicago, IL, USA) package program was used in the statistical analysis of the data obtained in the study. In data analysis; t-tests and ANOVA tests were performed to compare the discomfort and self-esteem experienced by women during vaginal examinations according to individual, obstetric characteristics and vaginal examinations at the time of delivery, using number, percentage, mean, standard deviation values. Scheffe test was used to identify sources of statistical differences in findings. The values determined as p<0.05 as a result of the statistical analysis were accepted as significant. Results: A statistically significant difference was observed between the practice of providing privacy in vaginal examinations and the mean score of discomfort. In this study, a statistically significant difference was observed between the state of feeling pain/discomfort during vaginal examination and the mean score of feeling uncomfortable. In addition, a statistically significant difference was observed between the number of healthcare professionals who performed vaginal examination and the average discomfort score. A statistically significant difference (p<0.05) was found between the number of vejinal examination's and the mean discomfort score. There was a statistically significant difference between gender and mean discomfort scores among healthcare workers who applied VM (p<0.05). The study found that women who chose their own bed for vaginal examination reported significantly lower mean discomfort (4.89±1.56) than women who chose an examination table (7.01±2.78) (p<0.05). Conclusion: When the results of the study were examined, it was concluded that more than half of the women received help in the preparation stage before the vajinal examination. In addition, it was determined that more than half of the women preferred the option of closing the door in the practice of ensuring privacy during vajinal examination, and closing the door during vaginal examination reduced discomfort. Another result was that, as about half of the women had their vajinal examination's performed by three different people, the average score for discomfort increased, and the level of discomfort increased at the right rate as the number of healthcare professionals performing vaginal examinations increased. It has been found that as the income level increases, the self-esteem also increases. It has been found that providing sufficient information before the vaginal examination has a positive effect on self-esteem. It has been determined that having a vaginal examination in one's own bed has a positive effect on self-esteem. Therefore, as a result of the research, it was determined that the women's discomfort was moderate, their self-esteem was high, and there was a low relationship between the discomfort and self-awareness.