The effect of emotional freedom technique and music, applied to pregnant women having experienced prenatal loss on psychological development, well-being status and cortisol levels

Aim: The research is conducted to determine for the purpose of the effect of emotional freedom technique and music applied to pregnant women having experienced prenatal loss on psychological development, well-being status, and cortisol level. Material and Method: The research is conducted in a randomized controlled manner with a total of 159 pregnant women who applied to the gynecology outpatient clinics of Elazig Fethi Sekin City Hospital between October 2020 and April 2021 (53 EFT, 53 music, 53 control). In the research, EFT was applied to the pregnant women in the EFT group twice, with an interval of one week; pregnant women in the music group were listened to music twice, with a one-week interval. Pregnant women continued the attempts for one week after the first attempt. SUDS, SUE Scale, PTGI, WHO-5 Well-Being Index were used to collect data, and a saliva sample was taken. Results: It was determined that the anxiety levels of the pregnant women differed according to the SUE scale after the EFT and music attempt, the lowest level of anxiety belonged to the EFT group, and the anxiety of the control group increased significantly (p<0.001). It was found that PTGI and WHO-5 Well-Being Index mean scores were statistically significantly higher and salivary cortisol medians were significantly lower in pregnant women in the EFT and music group compared to the control group after attempts (p<0.05). In the intergroup comparison, it was determined that the application of EFT was more effective on the WHO-5 Well-Being Index (p<0.001; a>b>c). In addition, after the attempts, the median salivary cortisol levels of the pregnant women in the control group were found to be statistically significantly higher than those in the pregnant women EFT and music group (p<0.001). Conclusion: It was determined that EFT and music applied to pregnant women having experienced prenatal loss reduced anxiety, provided psychological development, improved well-being, and decreased salivary cortisol level.