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The Effects of Accompaniment on Maternal Anxiety During Elective Cesarean Delivery: A Quasi-experimental Study

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Abstract

Background

In Spain, allowing women to be accompanied by their partners during cesarean deliveries is a poorly consolidated practice. Going through this experience alone, not only deprives women from the opportunity of sharing the birth with their partners, but also, forces them to face, on their own, one of the most stressful experiences during pregnancy.

Objective

To analyze whether significant differences exist in levels of anxiety of women who receive an elective cesarean delivery, according to whether they are allowed to be accompanied by their partners.

Design

Quasi-experimental, longitudinal, prospective study, comparing a group of 31 women receiving elective cesarean deliveries, without the presence of their partners, with a group of 33 women with elective cesarean deliveries who were accompanied by their partners. Anxiety levels were assessed using the STAI-State/Trait scale. Participants were given a questionnaire to assess their level of satisfaction with the care received.

Results

Anxiety measured via total scores on the STAI-S scale was significantly lower (p < 0.004) among the women who were accompanied by their partners during the elective cesarean delivery (median = 25), compared to the group who were not (median = 50). The differences were also significant (p < 0.003) considering the impact of accompaniment upon the group with high scores in the STAI-S (> 31) and continue to be significant when using the cut-off point of very high scores on the STAI-S (> 45).

Conclusions

Presence of partners during elective cesareans is a key factor for decreasing the anxiety caused by the surgery and for improving the overall experience of cesarean deliveries.

Significance

What is already known on this subject? Cesarean deliveries are one of the most stressful life experiences. Allowing women to be accompanied by their partners during cesarean deliveries is a poorly consolidated practice in some countries. Otherwise relevant international institutions recommend allowing an accompanying adult, present with the mother in the operating room during the entire process.

What this study adds? Presence of partners during elective cesareans is a key factor for decreasing deliveries’ anxiety, improving the overall experience, but it needs a mentality change in the obstetric and surgical team. These results could change the services organization in a more humane delivery, with overall positive impact in the patients’ care.

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Data Availability

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Code availability

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Acknowledgements

To all volunteers, mothers and partners, included in the Study, as well as to all the staff involved in the treatment of our patients.

Funding

Not applicable.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Obstetric and Gynecology Department, Parc Taulí University Hospital, Consorci Corporació Sanitària Parc Taulí, Parc del Taulí, 1, 08208, Sabadell, Barcelona, Spain

    Noemí Obregón Gutiérrez, Salut Puig Calsina & Yolanda Canet Esteve

  2. Departament of Public Health, Mental Health and Child and Maternal Nursing, University of Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain

    Noemí Obregón Gutiérrez & Josefina Goberna Tricas

  3. Mental Health Department, Consorci Corporació Sanitària Parc Taulí - I3PT - CIBERSAM, Parc Taulí, 1, 08208, Sabadell, Spain

    Jesus Cobo

  4. Department of Psychiatry and Forensic Medicine, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, Belaterra, Spain

    Jesus Cobo

  5. Statistic Unit, Fundació Parc Taulí, I3PT, Sabadell, Spain

    Joan Carles Oliva

Authors
  1. Noemí Obregón Gutiérrez
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  2. Jesus Cobo
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  3. Salut Puig Calsina
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  4. Yolanda Canet Esteve
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  5. Joan Carles Oliva
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  6. Josefina Goberna Tricas
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Contributions

NOG: Conceptualization, methodology, investigation, data curation, project administration, resources, software, supervision, validation, visualization, formal analysis, writing—original draft; writing—review and editing. JC: Conceptualization, data curation, resources, writing—original draft; writing—review and editing. SPC: Investigation, data curation, writing—original draft; writing—review and editing. J-CO: Methodology, investigation, data curation, software, supervision, validation, visualization, formal analysis, writing—original draft; writing—review and editing. YCE: Writing—original draft; writing—review and editing. JGT: Writing—original draft; Writing—review and editing.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Jesus Cobo.

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Conflict of interest

The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Ethical Approval

The institutional ethics board of the Parc Taulí Hospital approved the study.

Consent to Participate

Participation in the study was voluntary and the information provided was anonymous and confidential. Written informed consent was obtained from all participants prior to participation in the study.

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Gutiérrez, N.O., Cobo, J., Calsina, S.P. et al. The Effects of Accompaniment on Maternal Anxiety During Elective Cesarean Delivery: A Quasi-experimental Study. Matern Child Health J 27, 1352–1360 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10995-023-03677-6

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