ABSTRACT

Objective

The research was conducted to examine the effect of intimate partner violence on the fear of birth in pregnant women.

Methods

The research was carried out in the pregnant outpatient clinics of a public hospital in eastern Turkey. The descriptive study was completed with 204 pregnant women who applied to the maternity outpatient clinics for prenatal control. Personal introduction form, Intimate Partner Violence Attitude Scale-revised (IPVAS-R) and Childbirth Attitudes Questionnaire (CAQ) were used to collect the research data.

Results

In the study, no significant relationship was found between CAQ and IPVAS-R mean scores (p>0.05). In the multiple linear regression model established with the variables found to be different from the CAQ score average; working in an income generating job (β-coefficient=0.216; p=0.002), education level of the spouse (β-coefficient=-0.165; p=0.017) and number of pregnancies (β-coefficient=-0.265; p=0.001) were found to be important predictors.

Conclusion

It is recommended that health professionals consider the socio-demographic and obstetric characteristics of the pregnant women and the socio-demographic characteristics of the spouses while evaluating the birth fears of the pregnant women.