Guide to Coping with the Fear of Birth*

INTRODUCTION: Fear of childbirth is a common problem in pregnant women. A health professionals, as a responsible person, plays an important role in providing advice and giving care to mothers during pregnancy, delivery, and the postpartum period. This study was conducted to develop an evidence-based practice guide to coping with childbirth.
METHODS: The study was conducted methodologically on August 1, 2018 and April 1, 2020 to develop evidence-based practice guidelines for coping with childbirth. The Appraisal of Guidelines Research and Evaluation-II protocol was used in the development process of the guideline. The Grading of Recommendations Assessment, Development, and Evaluation tool was used to evaluate the evidence quality of the studies.
RESULTS: Evidence of guidelines was obtained from the review of 13 randomized controlled trials, 13 pretest-posttest control group quasiexperimental studies, and 5 pretest-post-test controlled quasi-experimental studies. The studies were gathered under 10 intervention titles that are effective in reducing fear of childbirth. The interventions included that psychoeducational group therapy with moderate evidence, individual counseling program, intrapartum supportive care, cognitive behavior therapy, antenatal hypnosis training, group art therapy, Roy adaptation model-based intermittent labor support, and self-efficacy-oriented psychological counseling with low degree of evidence, antenatal education, and heart rate variability biofeedback with very low degree of evidence.
DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION: It is expected that the fear of birth will be reduced and the negative outcomes of birth fear in the mother and baby will be prevented by using the guidelines developed to reduce the fear of birth in the health care offered to women.