Maternal Attitude and Knowledge Regarding Painless Labor: A Report from a Referral Hospital in Northern Iran.

BACKGROUND: Pregnant women's knowledge about labor analgesia and the acceptance rate of this method are still undesirable in developing countries.

OBJECTIVES: This study aimed to examine pregnant women's knowledge, attitude, and acceptance of painless labor.

METHODS: The present observational study was conducted in a referral university hospital in Northern Iran from September 2022 to April 2023. Eligible women were interviewed; the data were analyzed in SPSS v. 22 and expressed in numbers and percentages. A P-value < 0.05 was considered significant.

RESULTS: The data from 369 eligible women with an average age of 30.39 ± 5.42 years were analyzed. Of these women, 7.6% had minimal information about labor analgesia, and 92.4% declared they were almost aware of the procedure. Only 6 women (1.8%) believed that the anesthesiologists were responsible for performing labor analgesia, while 218 (63.9%) considered it the duty of obstetricians-gynecologists. Besides, 294 women (86.2%) requested this method, and 259 (76%) were ready to pay for it. Moreover, 166(48.7%) had no fear of the procedure. Nonpharmacologic methods were the first choice for 164 (48.1%), while Entonox was the last choice for 26 (7.6%). A significant association was observed between maternal level of education and willingness to pay for painless delivery (P = 0.006), knowledge of who performs it (P = 0.015), requesting a painless delivery (P = 0.0001), options related to the preferred method for painless delivery (P = 0.001), and being ready to pay for a painless delivery service (P = 0.0001).

CONCLUSIONS: Despite the poor maternal knowledge regarding the process of painless labor, the majority of the women requested the method and were ready to pay for it. These promising findings encourage the application of practical strategies to remove barriers.