Background: Fear of birth (FOB) is becoming increasingly recognised as a clinical issue that can have profound effects on the mother and her experience of pregnancy and birth. Failure to identify women with FOB could potentially lead to them feeling isolated and unsupported, and impact on their psychological health and the health of their baby. Aim: The main aim of this study was to gain an understanding of FOB and the associated impact on health professional practice, clinical outcomes and women's experiences of birth. The objectives were to: identify the most effective way of measuring FOB in clinical practice; investigate the most appropriate antenatal intervention to support women who fear childbirth; inform the study design for an RCT to assess the effectiveness of the intervention; and assess the most meaningful outcomes to include in future work. Methods: An explanatory mixed-methods study design was used. The first phase was a two-part online survey sent to Heads of Midwifery at 202 maternity units in the UK via Survey Monkey. Respondents were asked to give details of their unit in part 1 and service provision and evaluation for women with FOB in part 2. The second phase was a prospective cohort study of 148 women who had not experienced childbirth who were consecutively attending the Elisabeth Garrett Anderson and Obstetric Hospital, London or St Mary's Hospital, Manchester. Demographic data and details of sources of information on pregnancy were collected from participants in the first trimester along with their score on the tool chosen to measure FOB, the Fear Of Birth Scale (FOBS), and a saliva sample to measure cortisol level. In the third trimester, a second FOBS score and saliva sample were collected, and the Personal Health Questionnaire-9 (PHQ-9) and General Anxiety Disorder-7 (GAD-7) were administered to measure depression and anxiety respectively. Birth outcomes for the participants were collected from clinical records. In the third phase, 15 women participating in the second phase were purposively selected to reflect a range of FOBS scores and interviewed by telephone using a semi-structured interview to find out their experiences of pregnancy, being part of the study and service provision. Results: Response rates for the online survey were 63% for part 1 and 54% for part 2. Consultant obstetricians 25% had the most involvement in the care of women with FOB, followed by consultant midwives 21% and 30% had a designated midwife for dealing with FOB and only 32% provided specialist midwifery-led services for women with FOB, with 16% referring to a consultant obstetrician and 47% providing no specialist provision. No unit provided an evaluation of their services, although 19% had undertaken local audits. In the cohort study, using a cut-off of 54 for the FOBS, 30/148 (20%) had a FOB in the first trimester while 21/80 (26%) had a FOB in the third trimester. Compared with the first trimester, 51/80 women showed an increase in FOBS score, with 14 gaining and 7 losing a FOB. FOBS scores were not correlated with salivary cortisol in either trimester but they were correlated with PQH-9 and GAD-7 scores in the third trimester. They were also associated with a previous history of depression but only in the first trimester (p=0.011). FOBS scores showed considerable variability and a high measurement error, indicating a need for further refinement and psychometric testing. The qualitative interviews identified three themes underlying FOB: fearing the worst (pain, fear for the baby and fear of the unknown and complications), pathways to fear (friend-induced fear, mother-induced fear or reassurance and media-induced fear) and igniting or reducing fear (sources of information, support and communication). Conclusions: The FOBS is a potentially effective way of measuring FOB in clinical practice and research, but it requires enhancement informed by the themes identified by this study and psychometric testing in all three trimesters. An enhanced version of the FOBS could be used as the primary outcome to measure FOB during pregnancy in an RCT assessing the effectiveness of a suitable intervention, with the PHQ-9 and GAD-7 as secondary outcomes to measure depression and anxiety during pregnancy. An intervention to support primiparous women with FOB should be developed informed by the findings of this study, including components such as psychological education, relaxation, social support, reliable information sources and continuity of carer.

Much is known about childbirth fear in Sweden including its relationship to caesarean birth. Less is understood about this in Australia. Sweden has half the rate of caesarean birth compared to Australia. Little has been reported about women’s beliefs and attitudes to birth in either country. The contribution of psychosocial factors such as fear, attitudes and beliefs about childbirth to the global escalation of caesarean birth in high-income countries is an important topic of debate. The overall aim of this thesis is to investigate the prevalence and impact of fear on birthing outcomes in two cohorts of pregnant women from Australia and Sweden and to explore the birth attitudes and beliefs of these women.   A prospective longitudinal cohort study from two towns in Australia and Sweden (N=509) was undertaken in the years 2007-2009. Pregnant women completed self-report questionnaires at mid-pregnancy, late pregnancy and two months after birth. Fear of birth was measured in mid-pregnancy with a tool developed in this study: the Fear of Birth Scale (FOBS). The FOBS showed promise as a clinically practical way to identify women with significant fear. A similar prevalence of fear of birth (30 percent) was found in the Australian and Swedish cohorts (Paper I).  The Swedish women had attitudes indicating a greater concern for the personal impacts of birth and a belief system that situated birth as a natural event when compared to the Australian women (Paper II). Finally, when women’s attitudes and levels of fear were combined, three profiles were identified: Self determiners, Take it as it comes and Fearful (Paper III). Belonging to the Fearful profile had the most negative outcomes for women including higher rates of elective caesarean, more negative feelings in pregnancy and post birth and poorer perceptions of the quality of their antenatal and intra-partum care (Paper IV).

Sammanfattning I Sverige är förekomsten av förlossningsrädsla sedan tidigare uppskattad till 20 % (Eriksson & Nilsson, 2009). Denna relativt höga andel förlossningsrädda kvinnor gör det angeläget att som barnmorska kunna identifiera de riskfaktorer som gör att kvinnor som löper risk att utveckla eller redan lider av förlossningsrädsla. Syfte: Det övergripande syftet var att undersöka prevalens av förlossningsrädsla i sen graviditet och under förlossningen, mätt ett år efter förlossning. Syftet var också att undersöka om det finns skillnader gällande graden av förlossningsrädsla före och efter förlossning mellan olika grupper av kvinnor. Metod: En longitudinell kohortstudie utförd i form av en enkätstudie, uppdelad i tre enkäter. Det var 153 mödravårdsmottagningar i Sverige som inkluderades i studien. Antalet studiedeltagare vid första enkäten var 3284 och i den tredje 1360 studiedeltagare. Resultat: I sen graviditet var prevalensen förlossningsrädsla 26,4 %. Ett år efter förlossningen var det en snarlik prevalens, 28,4%, det vill säga ingen skillnad. De kvinnor som genomgått akut kejsarsnitt eller en instrumentell förlossning hade en ökad förlossningsrädsla uppmätt ett år efter förlossningen (M=7,35) jämfört med innan förlossningen (M=5,53). Slutsats: Då resultatet visar att kvinnor som genomgått ett akut kejsarsnitt eller en instrumentell förlossning har en signifikant ökad grad av oro och rädsla uppmätt ett år efter förlossningen, är det av stort värde att följa upp dessa kvinnor, att erbjuda dem stöd i tid inför nästkommande graviditet och förlossning. Det kan vara för sent att sätta in insatser när kvinnan redan är gravid. Det är också av värde att i största möjliga mån sträva efter en vaginal förlossning med bra stöd, information, smärtlindring och förebyggande av komplikationer. / Abstract The prevalence of fear of birth in Sweden has been estimated at 20 % (Eriksson & Nilsson, 2009). Because of this relatively high number of women with fear of birth it is crucial that midwives are able to identify the risk factors associated with developing fear of birth and identify women who experience fear of birth. Aim of study: The overall aim was to examine the prevalence of women experiencing fear of birth during late pregnancy and during birth, examined one year after giving birth. Moreover, the aim of the study was to investigate if there were differences in the level of fear of birth before and after giving birth between different groups of women. Method: A longitudinal cohort study was conducted by means of three self-report questionnaires. There were 153 Swedish prenatal clinics included in the study. The number of participants in the first questionnaire were 3284 and the in the third 1360 participants. Results: During late pregnancy the prevalence of fear of birth was 26.4%. One year after the delivery there was similar prevalence, 28.4%, namely no difference. The women whom have had an emergency caesarean section or an assisted delivery had higher degree of fear of birth one year after delivery (M=7,35) compared to before giving birth (M=5,53). Conclusion: The result of the study shows that women that had an emergency caesarian section or an assisted delivery experienced a significantly higher level of fear and concern measured one year after delivery, therefore it would be of great importance to conduct a follow-up with these women. It is also important to offer them early support before their next pregnancy and delivery. It could be too late to do this when the woman is already pregnant. It is also important, to the greatest extent possible, to aim for a vaginal delivery with the help of good support, information, pain management and prevention of complications.

Background: Skilled birth attendance, usually available by promoting childbirth at health care institutions in low-resource settings, is known to prevent maternal and neonatal morbidity and mortality. While institutional childbirths in India have increased at an exponential rate, the infrastructure, material and manpower resources to support this practice are lagging, raising concerns about the quality of childbirth services. Methodology: A mixed-method approach was used in this project: in-depth interviews with women (n= 13); and focus-group-discussions with the care providers (n=27) were conducted and analysed using Grounded Theory. A cross-sectional survey (n= 1004) assessed prevalence of Fear of Birth (FoB) and postnatal depressive symptoms (PND), along with satisfaction with childbirth services among women in the immediate postpartum period. Results: The system of cashless childbirth provided at the public health facilities, in the women’s experiences, came at the hidden cost of them having to make themselves subordinate to the offered services. The prevalence of FoB and PND was 13.1% and 17.1%, respectively, and these were significantly associated (p < 0.001). Among women with vaginal births (VB), 41.2% had experienced a perineal wound and 59% of them underwent repair without local anaesthesia. While the majority of the women were satisfied (VB 68.7%; Caesarean births 79.2%) with the services; women having VBs at Community Health Centres (nearly 81%) were more commonly satisfied compared to those at the District Hospitals (nearly 60%) (p < 0.001). From the care providers’ perspective, maintaining quality of childbirth services was like a balancing act between the realities of low-resource settings with stakeholders’ expectations. While the providers remained proud and committed; the challenges often left them fatigued, disillusioned, irritable and sceptical. Conclusion: There is a need to improve the sensitivity with which childbirth services are being delivered to women coming to public health facilities; as well as towards improving the care providers’ work conditions. Suboptimal birth experiences are associated with the women’s perinatal mental health and satisfaction, while perpetual work challenges may make the care providers frustrated and/or apathetic. Improving manpower resources could reduce work-stress in care providers and thereby improve childbirth processes.