comparison of childbirth experience and related factors in primiparous women with normal vaginal delivery and cesarean section from northern iran

Introduction: women’s experience of the childbirth process is an important outcome of childbirth. a negative childbirth experience can affect a woman’s well-being and the development of her newborn after delivery. several factors, such as sociodemographic characteristics, maternal expectations, prenatal education, type of delivery, unforeseen complications, and receiving adequate support during labor and delivery from medical staff, can affect mothers’ experience in the postpartum period.objective: this study aimed to compare the childbirth experience and related factors in primiparous women with normal vaginal delivery (nvd) and cesarean section (cs) referring to comprehensive health centers in rasht, north of iran.materials and methods: in this analytical cross-sectional study, 300 primiparous women (150 with nvd and 150 with cs) were selected from those referring to comprehensive health centers in rasht city in 2022 using a multi-stage sampling method. data was collected using a sociodemographic/obstetric questionnaire and the childbirth experience questionnaire (ceq). independent t-test, chi-square test, and cochran-armitage test were used to compare sociodemographic/obstetric characteristics of two nvd and cs groups. in univariate analyses, independent t-test, one-way analysis of variance, and pearson correlation test were used to examine the relationship between the ceq score and sociodemographic/obstetric characteristics. in multivariate analyses, the multiple linear regression analysis was used to determine factors associated with the total ceq score. the significance level was set at 0.05.results: the mean age of women was 27.85±4.61 years, and the majority of them in both nvd and cs groups had university education (42%) and were housewives (78.7%). based on the results, the educational level of women with cs was significantly higher than that of women with nvd (p=0.005). the mean total ceq score was significantly higher in women with cs than in those with nvd (p=0.001). among the domains of ceq, the highest mean score was in the domain of “professional support” (2.90±0.51 in nvd women and 3.00±0.54 in cs women), and the lowest mean score was in the domain of “participation” (2.3±0.54 in nvd women and 2.60±0.55 in cs women). a history of attending childbirth education classes (b=0.359, 95% ci; 0.225%, 0.493%, p=0.001) and giving birth in a private hospital (b=0.168, 95% ci; 0.056%, 0.28%, p=0.004) were the predictors of a positive childbirth experience in women.conclusion: primiparous women with cs in rasht city have a better childbirth experience than those with nvd. participating in childbirth education classes has a significant impact on primiparous women’s childbirth experience. in both groups (nvd, cs), the childbirth experience is significantly positive. therefore, more attention should be paid to holding childbirth education classes for women to help further improve their experience of natural childbirth.