Abstract
The research study described in this chapter forms part of a larger study on ‘Factors affecting labour pain’ (Niven and Gijsbers, 1984; Niven, 1985; 1986) and was particularly concerned with the role played by psychological factors in modulating labour pain. The study was informed by current theories of pain perception, such as the gate theory (Melzack and Wall, 1965; 1988), which predict that psychological factors as well as physiological ones can affect pain perception. Accordingly the study examined the effects of obstetric factors such as parity, induction of labour, duration of labour and weight of the baby as well as the effects of psychological factors such as the desirability of pregnancy, expectations of childbirth, antenatal education, and the presence of the partner during labour. Other factors examined included analgesic use (pethidine and Entonox), social class and previous pain experience. These factors were examined in the first phase of the study which involved 101 labouring women. In the second phase of the study the coping strategies of 51 of these women were examined in some detail.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Preview
Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.
References
Barber, T. and Cooper, B. (1972) Effects on pain of experimentally induced and spontaneous distraction. Psychological Reports, 31, 647–51.
Bond, M.R. and Pearson, B. (1969) Psychological aspects of pain in women with advanced cancer of the cervix. Journal of Psychosomatic Research, 13, 13–19.
Bonica, J.J. (1967) Principals and practice of obstetric analgesia and anaesthesia. Davis, Philadelphia.
Bonica, J.J. (1975) The nature of pain of parturition. In J.J. Bonica (ed.) Obstetric analgesia and anaesthesia; recent advances and current status. WB Saunders, New York.
Bowers, K. (1968) Pain, anxiety and perceived control. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 32, 596–602.
Brewin, C. and Bradley, C. (1982) Perceived control and the experience of childbirth. British Journal of Clinical Psychology, 21, 263–9.
Brown, M.B. and Forsythe, A.B. (1974a) The small sample behaviour of some statistics which test the equality of several means. Technometrics, 16, 129–32.
Brown, M.B. and Forsythe, A.B. (1974b) Robust tests for the equality of variances. Journal of the American Statistics Association, 69, 364–7.
Cox, D.J., Freudlich, A. and Meyter, R.C. (1975) Differential effectiveness of electromyographic feedback, verbal relaxation instructions and medication placebo with tension headaches. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 43, 892–8.
Dallenbach, A. (1939) Somesthesis. In J. Boring (ed.) Introduction to psychology. John Wiley, New York.
DeKornfeld, T.J., Pearson, J.W. and Lasagna, L. (1964) Methotrimeprazine in the treatment of labour pain. New England Journal of Medicine, 270, 391–4.
Dixon, W. and Massey, F. Jr (1969) Analysis of co-variance. In W. Dixon and F. Massey Jr (eds) Introduction to statistical analysis, 3rd edn. McGraw-Hill, New York.
Folkman, S. (1984) Personal control and stress and coping processes; a theoretical analysis. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 42, 839–52.
Horan, J.J., Layng, F.C. and Purcell, C.H. (1976) Preliminary study of effects of `in-vivo’ emotive imagery in dental discomfort. Perceptual and Motor Skills, 42, 105–6.
Hunter, J., Phillips M. and Rachman S. (1979) Memory for pain. Pain, 6, 35–46.
Jacobsson, E. (1929) Progressive relaxation. University of Chicago Press, Chicago.
Kitzinger, S. (1962) The experiences of childbirth. Gollancz, London.
Klopfer, F., Cogan, R. and Henneborn, W. (1975) Second stage medical intervention and pain during childbirth. Journal of Psychosomatic Research, 19, 289–93.
McCaul, K. and Haugtvedt, C. (1982) Attention, distraction and cold pressor pain. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 43, 154–62.
Markova, I., Lockyer, R. and Forbes, C. (1980) Self perception of employed and unemployed haemophiliacs. Psychological Medicine, 10, 559–65.
Melzack, R. (1975) The McGill Pain Questionnaire; major properties and scoring methods. Pain, 1, 277–99.
Melzack, R. and Torgerson, W. (1971) On the language of pain. Anaesthesiology, 34, 50–59.
Melzack, R. and Wall, P.D. (1965) Pain mechanisms; a new theory. Science, 150, 971–3.
Melzack, R. and Wall, P.D. (1988) The challenge of pain, 2nd edn. Penguin, Harmondsworth.
Melzack, R., Kinch, R., Dobkin, P., Lebrun, M. and Taenzer, P. (1984) Severity of labour pain; influence of physical as well as psychologic variables. Canadian Medical Association Journal, 20, 215–21.
Morgan, B., Bulphit, C.J., Clifton, P. and Lewis, P.I. (1982) Effectiveness of pain relief in labour; survey or 1000 mothers. British Medical Journal, 285, 689–91.
Nettlebladt, P., Fagerstrom, C.F. and Uddenberg, G. (1976) The significance of reported childbirth pain. Journal of Psychosomatic Research, 20, 215–21.
Nisbett, R.E. and Schacter, S. (1966) Cognitive manipulations of pain. Journal of Experimental and Social Psychology, 2, 227–36.
Niven, C. (1985) How helpful is the presence of the husband at childbirth? Journal of Reproductive and Infant Psychology, 3, 45–53.
Niven, C. (1986) Factors affecting labour pain. Unpublished Ph.D. thesis, University of Stirling.
Niven, C. and Gijsbers, K. (1984) Obstetric and non-obstetric factors related to labour pain. Journal of Reproductive and Infant Psychology, 2, 61–78.
Oakley, A. (1979) Becoming a mother. Robertson, Oxford.
Reading, A. (1983) The McGill Pain Questionnaire; an appraisal. In R. Melzack (ed.) Pain measurement and assessment. Raven Press, New York.
Reading, A.E. and Cox, D.N. (1985) Psychological predictors of labour pain. Pain, 22, 309–15.
Revill S., Robinson, J., Rosen, M. and Hogg, M. (1976) The reliability of a linear analogue for evaluating pain. Anaesthesia, 31, 1191–8.
Rotter, N. (1966) Generalised expectancies for internal vs. external control of reinforcement. Psychological Monographs, 80, 1–28.
Rybstein-Blinchik, E. (1976) Effects of different cognitive strategies on chronic pain experience. Journal of Behavioural Medicine, 2, 93–101.
Seers, K. (1989) Patients’ perceptions of acute pain. In J. Wilson-Barnett and S. Robinson (eds) Directions in nursing research. Scutari Press, London. Scott, J. and Huskisson, E.C. (1976) Graphic representation of pain. Pain, 2, 175–84.
Scott-Palmer, J. and Skevington, S. (1981) Pain during childbirth and menstruation; a study of locus of control. Journal of. Psychosomatic Research, 3, 151–5.
Stevens, R.J. and Heide, F. (1977) Analgesic characteristics of prepared childbirth techniques; attention focusing and systematic relaxation. Journal of Psychosomatic Research, 21, 429–38.
Sternbach, R.A. (1968) Pain: a psychological analysis. Academic Press, New York.
Stone, C.I., Demchik-Stone, D.A. and Horan, J.J. (1977) Coping with pain; a component analysis of Lamaze and cognitive-behavioural procedures. Journal of Psychosomatic Research, 21, 451–6.
Wolkind, S. and Zajicek, E. (1981) Pregnancy; a psychological and social study. Academic Press, London.
Worthington, E.L. Jr (1982) Labour room and laboratory; clinical validation of the cold pressor as a means of testing preparation for childbirth strategies. Journal of Psychosomatic Research, 26, 223–30.
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 1993 Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Niven, C. (1993). Coping with labour pain: the midwife’s role. In: Robinson, S., Thomson, A.M. (eds) Midwives, Research and Childbirth. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4899-6958-3_5
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4899-6958-3_5
Publisher Name: Springer, Boston, MA
Print ISBN: 978-0-412-34800-6
Online ISBN: 978-1-4899-6958-3
eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive