Level of fear related childbirth of pregnant women who admitted to emergency obstetric care unit

Objective: The aim of this research was to determine the level of fear of childbirth of primiparaous women, who applied to birth and women health emergency services. Method: This study is a descriptive cross-sectional study. The sample of the study was 473 primiparaous women aged between 19-35 who applied to Antalya Training and Research Hospital birth and women health emergency services between August 2015 and February 2016. A personal information form and "Wijma Birth Expectancy / Experience Scale Version" were used to determine the fear level of childbirth by conducting face-to-face interviews. Data was evaluated by using frequence, percentage, and statistical tests in the SPSS 20.0 program. In the evaluation of the data, t test, variance analysis and post-hoc tests were used. Results: It was determined that 67.7% of the pregnant women applied to the emergency unit due to pain. It was determined that the mean score of fear of childbirth was 66.33 ± 25.25 among women who applied to emergency services. Also, 21.8% of the women were found to have a fear of childbirth at a clinical level. It has been found that there is a significant difference between fear of childbirth and reasons for applying to emergency services, taking prenatal education, having information about the possibility complications of birth, feeling of readiness, planned and desired pregnancies. Conclusion: It has been determined that one third of the primiparous who apply to emergency obstetric care have a severe grade of fear of childbirth. It has been determined that fear of childbirth was found to be lower in the women who had received childbirth education, who knew they would live during birth, and who felt ready for delivery. Therefore, methods of active pregnancy and coping with stress should be taught to women during pregnancy. It should provided that women routinely benefit from childbirth education classes. Keywords: emergency birth, fear of childbirth, nursing, primiparaous, tophophobia