FEAR OF CHILDBIRTH AMONG ANTENATAL WOMEN ATTENDING GOVERNMENT AND PRIVATE HOSPITALS IN EAST SIKKIM: A COMPARATIVE DESCRIPTIVE STUDY

Introduction: Pregnancy is a wonderful period in a womens life and she spends each and every day in pleasant anticipation. Even though it is a time of great happiness and fulfilment of the life, pregnancy causes a lot of mental conflicts and feelings which is a natural trend of this period. It is also a time when women might experience a number of physiological and psychological changes. The main aim of the study was to assess and compare the fear of childbirth among antenatal women.

Material and Method: This descriptive comparative study was performed on 320 antenatal women who were seeking routine antenatal care in Government and Private Hospitals, Sikkim, were planning for normal vaginal delivery, with singleton pregnancy within the age range of 18 to 45 years and in 2nd and 3rd trimester of pregnancy in 2018 were selected through convenience sampling technique. Data were collected by demographics, questionnaire of pregnancy information, and Standardized Wijma Delivery Expectancy/ Experience Questionnaire (W-DEQ) to assess the fear of childbirth among antenatal women. The collected data were analyzed using independent t-test and chi square. P values lower than 0.05 were considered significant.