| Description |
The purpose of the study was to investigate the relationship between attendance at childbirth education classes by both mother and father and the mother's muscle tension experiences in the last trimester of pregnancy; the mother's emotional tension upon admission to the labor room; the length of the mother's labor and the amount of medication and anesthesia she received in labor. The thirty-seven couples for this study were selected from mothers who planned to deliver at the University of Utah Medical Center and who attended childbirth and parenthood preparation classes at the University of Utah, College of Nursing. Hypotheses one and two stated an inverse relationship between the amount of muscle tension and mother experienced in the last trimester of pregnancy and the number of class hours attended by the mother and the number of class hours attend by the father, respectively. There were two parts to the measure of muscle tension in the last trimester of pregnancy ( Crawford, 1968), On both of these, there was a positive correlation with the number of class hours attended by the mother which was in the opposite direction than hypothesized. There was a negative correlation with both parts of the muscle tension measure with the number of class hours attended by the mother and the number of class hours attended by the father, respectively. There were two parts to the measure of muscle tension in the last trimester of pregnancy (Crawford, 1968). On both of these, there was a positive correlation with the number of class hours attended by the mother which was in the opposite direction than hypothesized. There was a negative correlation with both parts of the muscle tension measure with the number of class hours attended by the father, although not as a statistically significant level. Hypotheses three and four stated an inverse relationship between the amount of emotional tension the mother exhibits upon admission to the labor from the number of class hours attended by the mother and the number of class hours attended by the father, respectively. The mother's emotional tension upon admission to the labor room was determined by four measures as outlined by Crawford (1968): 1) verbal expression of fear at the time of admission, 2) behavioral symptoms of emotional tension at the time of admission, 3) admission pulse and 4) the difference between the mother's last prenatal systolic blood pressure and her admission systolic blood pressure. Of these four measures, two has a statistically significant relationship with the number of class hours attended by the mother. The mother's verbal expression of fear, e = -.54, P < .05, and the difference in the mother's systolic blood pressure readings, r = -.01, P < .05, partially supported the hypothesis that the more hours of class the mother attends the less emotional tension she would exhibit upon admission to the labor room. The correlation of the difference in the mother's systolic blood pressure readings was r = -.18, P < .05, and was the only one of the four measures of emotional tension that was statistically significantly related with the number of class hours attended by the father. Hypothesis five and six stated an inverse relationship between the length of mother's labor and the number of class hours attended by the mother and the number of class hour attended by the father, respectively. The lengths of the mother's labors increased with both the number of class hours of the mothers and those of the fathers. However, the lengths of these mothers' labors were short compared to established norms (Friedman, 1967). Hypotheses seven and eight stated an inverse relationship between the amount of medication and anesthesia a mother would receive and the number of class hours attended by the mother and the number of class hours attended by the father, respectively. The amount of medication that the mother received decreased, but not significantly, as the number of class hours for mothers increased. However, the amounts of anesthesia increases as the mothers' class hours increased which showed a tendency in the opposite direction than hypothesized. Also, the amount of both medication and an anesthesia increased as the number of class hours for the father increased which was in the opposite direction than hypothesized. Although the data only partially supported hypotheses three and four and failed to support the hypotheses, there seems to be some indication of clinical importance for attendance at childbirth education classes in the data. The mothers' labors were shorter than accepted norms and the amount of medication they received was relatively light for obstetric analgesia. |
