Magnitude and associated factors of fear of childbirth among pregnant women attending antenatal care at Mbale regional referral hospital.
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Date
2026
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Busitema University
Abstract
Background: Childbirth fear affects 5–40% of all mothers around the world, and there is mounting evidence that it has harmful impacts on women’s health. It could potentially lead pregnant women to feel getting isolated and unsupported if not identified. Studies addressing this issue were limited to other parts of the word but not Uganda. Therefore, this study is aimed at assessing the magnitude and associated factors with fear of childbirth among pregnant women attending antenatal care at Mbale Regional Referral Hospital.
Objective: To determine the magnitude and associated factors of fear of childbirth among pregnant
Methods: A facility-based cross-sectional study was carried out involving 403 pregnant women chosen by consecutive sampling. A structured interviewer-administered questionnaire was adapted and used to collect data. We used the Wijma Delivery Expectancy/Experience Questionnaire and the fear of birth scale. Data was exported from Excel to SPSS version 20 for analysis. We utilized logistic regression in our analysis.
Results: Out of the total sample, 403 they were all involved in this study giving a response rate of 100%. The mean age of the respondents was 27.42(SD+_6.04) years, majority of them 259 fell into the age group of <=30 years. The vast majority of the respondents were married 371(92.06%). About 263(65.26%) of the participants attended secondary and tertiary levels of education. Women found to be having clinical fear were 15% using the Wijma Delivery Expectancy/Experience Questionnaire and 10% using the fear of birth scale. We used a cut off of 66 where those who scored 66 and above were considered to be having fear. Women with a history of cesarean section or assisted delivery were significantly more likely to experience fear of childbirth (AOR = 1.79, 95% CI: 1.21–2.64), while women previous episiotomy/tear with a (AOR = 0.48, 95% CI: 0.24–0.98) and those without current depressive symptoms (AOR = 0.12, 95% CI: 0.04–0.36) were significantly less likely to experience fear of childbirth.
Conclusion: Pregnant women in the study area had a significant level of childbirth fear. Women with current depressive symptom, history of cesarean section or assisted delivery, history of cesarean section or assisted delivery were associated with fear of childbirth. This calls for the need to identify and develop interventions for women to reduce childbirth fear during pregnancy.
Key words: pregnant women, childbirth fear.
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Undergraduate research report
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Citation
Tusiime, K. (2026). Magnitude and associated factors of fear of childbirth among pregnant women attending antenatal care at Mbale regional referral hospital. [Unpublished undergraduate research report]. Busitema University.