Perceived Environmental Stressors and Pain Perception During Labor Among Primiparous and Multiparous Women

Introduction: pain experienced during labor is probably the most painful event in thelives of women. environment itself influences a mother's experience of pain. tensionand stress resulting from pregnancy crisis and labor increase when the mother ishospitalized, which is concomitant with stressful situations and factors that affect painperception during labor. the purpose of this study was to explore selected aspects oflabor stress and specifically study the relationship between environmental factors andpain perception among parturient women.materials and methods: this descriptive-comparative study was carried out intabriz alzahra hospital during 2005-2006. in this study, 300 primiparous and 300multiparous women who were candidates for vaginal delivery, were randomlyselected and interviewed. the data were collected by a questionnaire and the intensityof pain was determined by visual analogue scale (vas).results: significant positive correlations were found between pain and tension fromenvironmental factors in primiparous (r=0.16, p<0.01) and in multiparous (r=0.22,p<0.05) women. furthermore, primiparous women believed that a crowded deliveryroom (70%) and restriction of movement and mobility (67%) contributed to theirenvironmental stresses. multiparas women believed that noise in the delivery ward(84%) and restrict of fluid intake (78%) increased their stresses.conclusion: performance of routine diagnostic tests in hospitalized pregnant woman,provision of invasive medical care during labor process and a noisy and crowdedenvironment all influence the mother's experience and perception of pain. therefore,the medical staffs seem to play a great role in alleviating labor pain by reducingstressors, especially the objective ones that are more stressful.