Fear of childbirth and affecting factors in pregnant women conceiving with assisted reproductive techniques

This study was conducted as a descriptive research to investigation of fear of childbirth and affecting factors in pregnant women conceiving with assisted reproductive techniques. The research was conducted between June 2019 and February 2020 in Gaziantep CengizGökçek Obstetrics Gynecology and Children's Hospital, Obstetrics & Gynecology Department with institutional permissions. The sample of the study consisted of 160 women who had prenatal follow-ups in the department specified between the dates of the study, conceived with assisted reproductive techniques, were at 28-40 weeks of gestation, volunteer to participate in the study and could communicate in Turkish. "Data Collection Form" and "TheWijma Delivery Expectancy/Experience Questionnaire (W-DEQ) Version A" were used to collect data. The data were collected by the researcher through face-to-face interviews after the women were informed about the study and their consents were obtained. The statistical analysis of the data obtained from the research was done by using the IBM SPSS Statistics 22.0 package program and the Independent Samples T Test, ANOVA, Kruskal-Wallis H, Mann-Whitney U, Chi-square tests and Correlation analysis were used. It was determined that the mean W-DEQ score of the women was 56.23±19.40, 54.4% of them had moderate fear and 23.1% had severe fear. It was found that the mean W-DEQ score (60.88±20.05) of the women who did not receive prenatal care training during their pregnancy was significantly higher than the women who received education (52.52±18.14) and they experienced more fear of childbirth. The levels of fear of childbirth were found to be significantly higher in women who had a previous experience of miscarriage, lived in rural areas and whose husbands were not working in a job. According to the results obtained from the research; in order to reduce the fear of childbirth in pregnant women who conceive with assisted reproductive techniques, it is recommended that nurses provide regular training and counselling to women during pregnancy, evaluate their childbirth fears with valid and reliable measurement tools, and take into account their socio demographic and obstetric characteristics. Key words: fear of childbirth, assisted reproductive techniques, pregnancy, nursing