Predictive Power of Self-Efficacy on the Fear of Childbirth in Pregnant Women: Underlying Mechanisms of Social Support as a Mediator and the COVID-19 Fear as a Moderator.

BACKGROUND: Fear of childbirth (FOC) is a common problem associated with psycho-social factors in pregnant women.

OBJECTIVES: This study aimed to determine the mediator of social support and the moderator role of fear of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) in the relationship between self-efficacy and FOC in pregnant women.

MATERIALS AND METHODS: This descriptive and cross-sectional study was conducted with 422 pregnant women registered in 18 family health centers. Data were collected with the introductory information form, the Wijma Delivery Expectancy/Experience Questionnaire-A, the Childbirth Self-Efficacy Inventory, the Multidimensional Scale of Perceived Social Support, and the Fear of COVID19 Scale. The SPSS 22 package program and Hayes's process macro 3.2 were used in the analysis of the data.

RESULTS: Findings showed that 19.9% of the pregnant women experienced severe FOC. Self-efficacy and social support negatively predicted FOC, while fear of COVID-19 predicted it positively. Perceived social support moderately mediated the relationship between FOC and self-efficacy. Fear of COVID-19 was found to be a marginally effective moderator in the relationship between self-efficacy and FOC. This indicates that as self-efficacy increases in pregnant women with low fear of COVID-19, the FOC is experienced less.

CONCLUSION: In the relationship between self-efficacy and FOC, social support is a key factor in reducing FOC. To reduce the FOC, the social support of pregnant women should be strengthened, and the fear associated with acute crisis periods such as pandemics should be reduced with some preventive measures.