Effectiveness of Expectant Father's Presence during First Stage of Labour

Natural Child birth is a profound and powerful human experience which is a mixture of feeling of empowerment, elation, and accomplishment. It is a challenging time for both men and women. Childbirth is such an exciting time can lead to emotional changes which need support from the care giver.

To assess the effectiveness of expectant father's presence during first stage of labour

A quasi experimental (post test only control group) research design was adopted with convenient sample of 40 parturient in K.G Hospital, Coimbatore. It was divided into experimental and control group, 20 samples in each group. Expectant father was allowed inside the labour room after checking their attitude towards childbirth by using birth participation scale; he was instructed to give physical and emotional support during contractions. Control group samples received only routine intranatal care. Data were collected by Numeric pain intensity scale and State trait anxiety inventory scale from the parturient. Analysis was done by using descriptive and inferential statistics.

There was a Significant difference between experimental group and control group in relation to expectant father's presence and perception of pain, level of anxiety, duration of first stage of labour (value of ‘z’ was 2.03,5.6,2.56 respectively). There was an association between analgesics (χ²=5.2) during labor and pain score. Parity (χ²=6.4) and nature of conception (χ² =5.2) had an association with anxiety score at 5% level of significance. There was an association between parity (χ²=4.9) and duration of labor at 5% level of significance. Finally it was concluded that there was a positive relationship between expectant father's presence and outcome of labour during first stage of labour.

Expectant father's presence in birth helps mothers to have more positive experiences in all aspects of childbirth. Hence this study suggests that constant support by their partner during first stage of labour may be important for successful childbirth.