Üniversite Son Sınıf Öğrencilerinde Gebelik Öncesi Doğum Korkusunun Belirlenmesi

This research was carried out descriptive to determine the fear of childbirth in the pre-pregnancy period of senior university students. In the research, the stratified sampling method was used and 300 senior students who accepted to participate in the study voluntarily, who had the criteria of inclusion in the research and studied in the last year at Eastern Mediterranean University consisted the sample of the study. The data of the research were collected between 01 October - 30 December 2019 using “Personal Information Form” prepared by the researcher and “The Childbirth Fear-Prior to Pregnancy Scale” applied by Uçar and Timur Taşhan in 2017. The data obtained were evaluated descriptive statistics, Mann-whitney U test and Kuruskal-Wallis test. The mean age of students was 21.88 ± 0.88. 51,0% of students participating in the study are women, 49,0% are men and 96,3% are single, 68,0% of students study in social sciences departments of the university. 63% of students participated in the study the longest lived place is Turkey. It was determined that 62.09% of female students prefer vaginal childbirth when they are pregnant and 66.67% of male students prefer vaginal childbirth if their spouses were pregnant. It was determined that 52.85% of the students who want vaginal delivery prefer because it is healthier and 66.67% of the students who want cesarean delivery prefer because it is less painful. In the study, it was found that the mean scores of the Childbirth Fear-Prior to Pregnancy Scale of the students were 35,64±12,49. This result shows us that the senior students who study in university have fear of birth before pregnancy. In addition, the fear of childbirth in the pre-pregnancy period was found to be higher among students who are female, who are single, and female students who do not intend to become pregnant in the future, male students who want cesarean delivery when their spouses are pregnant, students whose mothers had a cesarean delivery and students who have negative birth experience around (p<0.05). In line with the results obtained in the study, suggestions were made to reduce the fear of childbirth before pregnancy of youth, to cope with childbirth fears and to raise awareness about fear of childbirth. Keywords: Fear of Birth, Pre-pregnancy, University Students