| Description |
The aim of this study was to determine the presence of a relationship between report of dream recall or non-recall and dream content to labor outcome. Further information was gathered on the relationship of reports of dream recall to psychological data obtained from the Utah Test Appraising Health III (Utah III). Data were obtained on 29 women attending prenatal classes at St. Mark's Hospital in Salt Lake City, Utah. The subjects were asked to record their dreams on five different occasions during the last four months of pregnancy. Three of these dreams from each subject were analyzed according to The Manual of Instructions for Using the Gottschalk-Gleser Content Analysis Scales for anxiety, hostility, and social alienation-personal disorganization. Subjects were also asked to complete the Utah III. Those subjects agreeing to participate in the study and completing the Utah III who did not turn in dream reports were contacted by telephone to determine reasons for not reporting dreams. PM correlations, Chi-square, and t-tests were computed on the data to identify presence of significant relationships. Dream analysis for anxiety, hostility and social alienation-personal disorganization showed only high intercorrelations. Recall of dreaming was greatest among the primiparae in this study, and more common than report of non-recall. Report of dream recall vs. non-recall correlated with the psychological scales from the Utah III. Physiological variables showed no significant relationships with dream data. Scales from the Utah III correlated with both the psychological data and the physiological data. Due to its investigative nature, no definite conclusions could be made from the information gathered. Presence of statistical significance on areas of the investigation suggested the following tendencies: Stressful life circumstances and increased reporting of symptoms for the first and second trimesters of pregnancy were associated with less recall of dreaming in this study. Illness proneness and higher stress were associated with greater usage of medications and nerve blocks during the course of labor. Stress in the work systems correlated with increased abnormalities in the post-partum course. Understanding the implications of the relationship between psychological and physiological variables in pregnancy, labor and delivery, and post-partum should provide a fruitful area for investigation in the future. |
