Communication in Lamaze couples.

This descriptive study of 34 expectant couples was conducted in Salt Lake City between August and December of 1979. The study sought to answer the questions: Do couples choosing Lamaze Childbirth Education have better communication skills than couples not choosing Lamaze preparation? The total population was divided into two groups. Group A or couples choosing Lamaze Childbirth Education consisted of 16 couples. Group B or couples not choosing Lamaze Childbirth Education consisted of 18 couples. Two test tools were used to evaluate the communication levels of the couples. The Marital Communication Inventory or MCI consists of 46 questions and was designed by Millard Bienvenu to evaluate the communication process in couples. The Primary Communication Inventory or PCI consists of 25 questions and was designed by Harvey Locke with adaptation by Leslie Neslie Navran to measure verbal and nonverbal communication in couples. In addition to these tests, couples completed a Demographic Data Sheet. Findings indicated that men in Group A were significantly older than men in Group B. Although women in Group A tended to be older than women in Group B, the difference was not significant. Similar findings were revealed in the literature. The number of years married was not significantly different for the two groups. There was not significant difference between the educational and income levels of the two groups, which contrasted findings reported in the literature. Results from the MCI revealed a significantly better communication level in Group A couples. In addition, women in Group A had a significantly higher mean MCI score than women in Group B. Further, the trend was for men in Group A to have a higher mean score than men in Group B. Results from the PCI revealed no significant difference between the communications of couples in the two groups. However, men in Group B had a significantly higher mean PCI combined score than women in Group B. A difference in the verbal or nonverbal areas could not be found for this group. The combination of findings requires further study. Data from the study suggest that couples choosing Lamaze Childbirth Education are a self-select group who are generally older with possible more stable marriages and better communication skills. This will be an important group in order to discover why their communication skills are better. Findings from further studies can be beneficial to professionals such as nurses, physicians, psychologists, marriage counselors or social workers who could then apply the knowledge to all types of childbirth education with the intent of improving the quality of health care for all expectant couples regardless of whether natural childbirth was desired or not.