investigating the effects of midwife-oriented education and counseling on the type and consequences of childbirth in first-time pregnant women with fear of childbirth

Background: fear of childbirth is one of the major problems during pregnancy and the post-partum period that affects women’s health and preference for cesarean birth. objectives: the present study aimed to investigate the effect of midwife-oriented education and counseling on the type and consequences of childbirth in first-time pregnant women with fear of childbirth. methods: the present study is a single-blind randomized controlled trial performed on 122 first-time pregnant women with fear of childbirth. the samples were selected by the convenient sampling method and divided into two intervention and control groups by the four-blocked randomization method. data collection tools were a demographic questionnaire and the wijma delivery expectancy/experience questionnaire (wdeq; version a before childbirth and version b after childbirth). the intervention was performed in the form of six counseling sessions based on the gamble approach. the data were analyzed at a significance level of 0.05 using spss 21 statistical software. results: regarding the effect of midwife-oriented counseling on pre-partum and post-partum fear, no statistically significant difference was observed between the two groups. the rate of choosing vaginal birth in the intervention group significantly increased after receiving counseling (p = 0.001). the frequency of vaginal birth, childbirth satisfaction, and childbirth consequences was not statistically significant between the two groups. conclusion: the present counseling method can be effective in increasing choosing vaginal birth in first-time pregnant women with fear of childbirth, but further research is required to evaluate its effectiveness on the maternal and neonatal consequences.