INTRODUCTION:

The health of nations depends on the health of women. Pregnancy and child birth are special events in women’s lives and indeed, in the lives of their families. This can be a time of great hope and joyful anticipation. Child birth is one of the greatest events in every woman’s life, especially among primigravida mothers. Pregnancy is the vital event in the life of a women, it need special attention from the time of conception to the postnatal stage, every pregnancy is a unique experience for that women and each pregnancy the women experience will be new and adequately different.

Having had fantasies about pregnancy and motherhood, when confronted with the reality, many of them have doubt in their ability to cope with this great event in their lives. Influenced by family, friends and relatives, they get prepared in different ways as they approach the experience of child birth. At this time, the mother-to-be needs a lot of help for the realization and acceptance of child birth as a normal physiological phenomenon.

OBJECTIVES:

· To assess the level of anxiety regarding labour process among primigravida.

· To associate the level of anxiety regarding labour process among primigravida with selected socio-demographic variables

NULL HYPOTHESES:

· H₀There is no anxiety regarding labour process among primigravida at 0.05 level of significance.

· H₀There is no association between level of anxiety regarding labour process among primigravida and selected socio-demographic variables at 0.05 level of significance.

MATERIAL AND METHODS:

Research Approach:

A quantitative research approach is used for the present study.

Research Design:

Descriptive research design was adopted.

Research Setting:

The study was conducted in the Obstetrics O.P.D and Antenatal Clinic in the Civil Hospital; phase 6 – Mohali.

Sample and Sampling Technique:

Sample for the present study comprised of 100 primigravida women who fulfill the inclusion criteria. Non probability, purposive sampling technique was used to draw sample from the population.

Selection and Development of Tool(s):

Self-administered structured questionnaire with Hamilton Anxiety scale was used to assess the level of anxiety regarding labour process. It consists of two sections. Section – I includes 7 variables such as age, educational status, occupation, family income, religion, type of family ad source of information. Section – II consist of Standardized Hamilton Anxiety Rating Scale which include 14 items to assess the anxiety of primigravida mothers related to labour process. The reliability of the anxiety scale fount to be (r= 0.79) significant. Each item is scored on a scale of 0 (not present) to 4 (severe) with a total score range of 0–56.

ü If the score is ≤ 17 it indicates Mild anxiety

ü If the score is 18-24 it indicates Moderate anxiety

ü If the score is 25-30 it indicates Severe anxiety

ü If the score is ≥ 31 it indicates Very severe anxiety

RESULTS:

TABLE - 1: Frequency and Percentage Distribution of Primigravida Women According To Their Socio- Demographic Variables N=100

Sl. No	Socio- demographic variables		Frequency (f)	Percentage (%)
1	Age Group	≤ 23 years	43	43.0
		24 – 27 years	41	41.0
		≥ 28 years	16	16.0
2	Educational status	Non Formal education	3	3.0
		Primary	7	7.0
		Matric	33	33.0
		Higher Secondary	29	29.0
		Graduate	17	17.0
		Post Graduate	11	11.0
3	Occupational status	Working	19	19.0
3	Occupational status	Housewife	81	81.0
4	Family Monthly Income	≤ Rs.10000/-	53	53.0
		Rs 10001 – 25000/-	37	37.0
		Rs 25001 – 40000/-	8	8.0
		≥ Rs 40001/-	2	2.0
5	Religion	Hindu	52	52.0
		Muslim	9	9.0
		Sikh	39	39.0
6	Type of family	Nuclear	59	59.0
6	Type of family	Joint	41	41.0
7	Source of Information on Labour Process	Family	41	41.0
		Friends	10	10.0
		Health Workers	35	35.0
		Mass Media	13	13.0
		Newspaper	1	1.0

TABLE – 2: Level of Anxiety Regarding Labour Process among Primigravida by Hamilton Anxiety Scale N = 100

Sl.No	Level of Anxiety on labour process	Mean Percentage (%)
1	Mild	14.0
2	Moderate	79.0
3	Severe	7.0
Total		100.0

Table: 2 shows that the level of anxiety on labour process among the primigravida. It shows that the majority of the primigravida i.e. 79% had moderate level of anxiety, 14% of primigravida had mild level of anxiety and 7% of them had severe level of anxiety.

Table 3. shows that the level of anxiety regarding labour process according to components of Hamilton anxiety scale among primigravida.

a) The anxious mood, majority (47%) of the females had mild anxiety, 25% had moderate anxiety, 13% had severe anxiety and 5% had very severe while 10% had no anxiety.

b) Tension was of moderate level among 63% females followed by 20% had mild tension but about 16% had tension of severe range.

c) Fear level was mild in 40% females but about 37% females had fear in severe range followed by 14% said they had mild level of fear and only 9% had no fear.

d) 53 – 55% females had no insomnia or intellectual anxiety or cardiovascular symptoms while 30 – 40% said they had mild level of anxiety and 3 – 11% said they had both moderate level of anxiety. The level of anxiety on all issues in severe range was among only 3% females.

e) Depressed mood of moderate and mild range was among 31 – 33% females, about 9% had in severe range and 26% reported nothing.

f) Somatic (muscular) problem was mild among 46% females, was moderate among 32% females and in severe category there were 105 females.

g) Somatic (sensory) problem was moderate among 45% females, 25% females said mild level and about 18% said is of severe category.

h) Respiratory symptoms were witnessed severe only among 4% females, but it was of moderate level among 47% females and 35% reported it of mild category.

i) Gastrointestinal symptoms were witnessed severe only among 31% females, but it was of moderate level among 33% females and 21% reported it of mild category.

j) Genitourinary symptoms were witnessed severe among 45% females, but it was of moderate level among 26% females and 21% reported it of mild category.

k) Autonomic symptoms were moderate among 43% females followed by 33% females in severe category and 20% described it as mild. 45% females reported no anxiety behavior at interview while 48% had of mild level.

TABLE – 3: Level of Anxiety Regarding Labour Process according to Components of Hamilton Anxiety Scale among Primigravida N = 100

Sl.No	Components of Hamilton Anxiety Scale	Mean Percentage of Level of Anxiety (%)
Sl.No	Components of Hamilton Anxiety Scale	Nil	Mild	Moderate	Severe	Very Severe
1	Anxious mood	10	47	25	13	5
2	Tension	10	20	63	12	4
3	Fears	9	14	40	27	10
4	Insomnia	55	30	11	3	1
5	Intellectual	53	38	6	3	0
6	Depressed mood	26	31	33	9	1
7	Somatic (muscular)	12	46	32	9	1
8	Somatic (sensory)	10	25	47	18	0
9	Cardiovascular symptoms	54	41	3	2	0
10	Respiratory symptoms	14	35	47	4	0
11	Gastrointestinal symptoms	15	21	33	25	6
12	Genitourinary symptoms	8	21	26	37	8
13	Autonomic symptoms	4	20	43	29	4
14	Behavior at interview	45	48	6	1	0

Table 4: Associate the level of anxiety regarding labour process among primigravida with selected socio-demographic variables

N = 100

Sr. No	Socio- demographic variables		Frequency (f)	Test of significance
1	Age	≤ 23 years	19.88	F – test = 0.733 p = 0.483, NS
		24 – 27 years	20.34
		≥ 28 years	19.62
2	Educational status	Non Formal education	18.67	F – test = 0.974 p = 0.438,NS
		Primary	17.00
		Matric	20.00
		Higher Secondary	19.28
		Graduate	21.76
		Post Graduate	21.73
3	Occupational status	Working	20.74	T – test = 0.579 p = 0.564,NS
3	Occupational status	Housewife	19.86	T – test = 0.579 p = 0.564,NS
4	Family Monthly Income	≤ Rs.10000/-	18.66	F – test = 5.654** p = 0.0001
		Rs 10001 – 25000/-	21.97
		Rs 25001 – 40000/-	19.88
		≥ Rs 40001/-	21.00
5	Religion	Hindu	18.96	F – test = 3.070 p = 0.051, NS
		Muslim	23.89
		Sikh	20.56
6	Type of family	Nuclear	20.53	T – test = 1.009 p = 0.315,NS
6	Type of family	Joint	19.32	T – test = 1.009 p = 0.315,NS
7	Source of Information on Labour process	Family	20.20	F – test = 0.753 p = 0.558,NS
		Friends	17.50
		Health Workers	20.40
		Mass Media	20.00
		Newspaper	26.00

** Significant

NS: Non Significant