The effect of labor dance in the first stage of labor on labor pain, anxiety, duration of labor, and maternal satisfaction with birth: A randomized controlled study

The study was conducted to examine the effects of labor dance applied in the first stage of labor on perceived labor pain, anxiety, duration of labor, and maternal satisfaction with birth. The randomized controlled study was conducted between November 2020 and March 2022. The sample size of the randomized controlled study consisted of 128 pregnant women determined by power analysis; 64 in the experimental group and 64 in the control group. Experimental and control groups included equal numbers of primiparous and multiparous pregnant women. Pregnant women in the experimental group were applied a 15-minute labor dance every hour when the cervical dilation was between 3-8 cm. Dance was accompanied by music. During the labor dance, the pregnant woman's waist was massaged with a 9-ball massage glove. The data were collected using the Pregnant Descriptive Information Form, the Visual Analogue Scale (VAS), the State Anxiety Scale (SAS), the Maternal Satisfaction Scale at Normal Birth (MSSNB), the Maternal Information Form for Postpartum and the Questionnaire on Maternal Views about Labor Dance Practice. The data analysis was done with Student t-test, and Mann Whitney U tests. The pregnant women in the experimental group performed labor dance when cervical dilatation was 3 cm, 5-6 cm, and 7-8 cm, and their mean VAS score after each dance practice was found to be lower than those in the control group (p<0.05). There was not statistically significant difference between the SAS mean scores of the experimental and control groups, the cervical dilatations of which were evaluated between 3 cm, 6-7 cm, and postpartum 2-3 hours (p>0.05). When the experimental and control groups were compared in terms of "the duration of the first, second, and third stages of labor and the total times covering all stages", the difference between the two groups was not found to be significant (p>0.05). The total MSSNB score of the women in the experimental group and the "Nursing Care, Comforting, Participation in Decisions, and Postpartum Care" sub-dimension scores of the MSSNB were higher than those in the control group (p<0.05). In conclusion, the practice of labor dance was found to be effective in reducing the perceived labor pain in pregnant women and increasing maternal satisfaction at birth, but not on the duration of labor and anxiety.