ผลของการสนับสนุนทางสังคมผ่านแอปพลิเคชันต่อความกลัวการคลอดบุตรในสตรีครรภ์แรก

Abstract

Fear of childbirth (FOC) can be found starting from pregnancy through the postpartum period. FOC affects the physiological and psycho-emotional state of pregnant women and includes their fetus. Therefore, care that reduces FOC is an important for nurse-midwives. This quasi-experimental research study aimed to examine the effect of social support via a mobile application on FOC among primigravidas. The subjects were 42 primigravidas selected following inclusion criteria which included gestational age at 34-38 weeks and an FOC score of moderate or over, who had attended the antenatal clinic at the Health Promotion Hospital, Health Promotion Center Region 1, Chiang Mai between November 2020, and November 2021. Using simple random sampling, two groups of 20 and 22 subjects each, were assigned into an experimental and a control group, respectively. Subjects in the experimental group received social support via the application along with routine nursing care, while subjects in the control group received only routine nursing care. The research instruments were a social support plan developed by the researcher based on House’s social support model (1981), a mobile application, and the application handbook. The data collection tools were a personal data record form and the Wijma Delivery Expectancy/Experience Questionnaire [W-DEQ] (Wijma et al., 1998), Thai version (Tampawiboon, 2005). Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, paired t-test and independent t-test. The research results revealed that: 1. After receiving social support via the application, the experimental group had a statistically significantly lower FOC mean score than before the experiment (p < .05). 2. After receiving social support via the application, the experimental group had a statistically significantly lower FOC mean score than the control group (p < .05). The findings from this study suggest that nurse-midwives could use the social support application as part of their nursing care to effectively lessen fear of childbirth among primigravidas.