Abstract:

Purpose: To examine the effects of prenatal education on the preference of mode of delivery in pregnant nulliparous women. Materials and Methods: This retrospective cross-sectional study included 824 pregnant nulliparous women who gave their first birth between May 2017-May 2018 in the …………….Gynecology and Obstetrics and Child Diseases Training and Research Hospital. While the women who had regular follow-ups (at least 4) in the study center, had healthy singleton pregnancy, and gave birth between 34-42 weeks of gestation were included, women who gave birth to a stillborn baby, had a breech presentation, had a macrosomia birth, and had their periodic prenatal examinations in a different healthcare center were excluded. Accordingly, 72 women were excluded in total and the remaining 752 nulliparous women were evaluated. Results: The mean age of the women (n=752) was 25.73±4.66 year and their mean gestational week was 39.02±1.49. The mean birth weight was 3259.28±418.05 g and 51.5% (n=387) of the women gave birth to a boy. Of the women, 439 (58.4%) gave birth vaginally and 313 (41.6%) gave birth by cesarean section. There was no significant difference between the women gave birth by vaginal route and cesarean section regarding the rate of participation in the childbirth preparation education (52.6% vs. 53.0%, p=0.910). Moreover, the rate of cesarean section was also lower than vaginal delivery in the women who completed the prenatal education and had certificate (n=72) but the difference was not significant (p=0.080). Conclusion: Increasing the rate of participation of women in the childbirth preparation education would have favorable impacts on the preferences of women for mode of delivery.

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