Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Global Perspectives of Childbirth Fear Including the Relevant Evidence

  • Chapter
  • First Online:
Understanding Anxiety, Worry and Fear in Childbearing

Abstract

This chapter examines the universality of fear of birth across societies and cultures. It highlights that multiple cultures exist within a country with concomitant multiplicity in the origin and content of a woman’s fear. The level of resourcing available to the health system and the people who work within it can lead to some fears such as fear of death or disability being more likely for women in low income countries than for women in high income countries. While for some women the possibility of choosing significant interventions such as caesarean is a way to deal with their fear of birth, for others the fear of too much technology and intervention conversely is a key driver for choosing alternatives to the dominant medicalised birthing context. The importance of traditional cultural practices surrounding birth remains for many women. As modernity imposes new practices upon them a fear of losing key rites of passage and connection is an important fear. The significance of kind, compassionate care from trusted caregivers no matter what cultural or social setting the woman is in remains paramount to working with all women and especially those who are highly fearful.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Log in via an institution
eBook
USD 16.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD 69.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

References

  • Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (2018) In: AIHW (ed) Australia’s women and babies 2016. Australian Institute of Health and Welfare, Canberra

    Google Scholar 

  • Behruzi R, Hatem M, Goulet L, Fraser W, Misago C (2013) Understanding childbirth practices as an organizational cultural phenomenon: a conceptual framework. BMC Pregnancy Childbirth 13:205

    PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Bohren MA, Vogel JP, Hunter EC, Lutsiv O, Makh SK, Souza JP et al (2015) The mistreatment of women during childbirth in health facilities globally: a mixed-methods systematic review. PLoS Med 12(6):e1001847; discussion e

    PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Byrne J, Hauck Y, Fisher C, Bayes S, Schutze R (2014) Effectiveness of a mindfulness-based childbirth education pilot study on maternal self-efficacy and fear of childbirth. J Midwifery Women’s Health 59(2):192–197

    Google Scholar 

  • Calderani E, Giardinelli L, Scannerini S, Arcabasso S, Compagno E, Petraglia F et al (2019) Tokophobia in the DSM-5 era: outcomes of a new cut-off analysis of the Wijma delivery expectancy/experience questionnaire based on clinical presentation. J Psychosom Res 116:37–43

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Craig BJ, Kabylbekova Z (2015) Culture and maternity care in Kazakhstan: what new women expected. Health Care Women Int 36(1):41–56

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • d’Ambruoso L, Abbey M, Hussein J (2005) Please understand when I cry out in pain: women’s accounts of maternity services during labour and delivery in Ghana. BMC Public Health 5(1):140–111

    PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Dahlen HG, Caplice S (2014) What do midwives fear? Women Birth 27(4):266–270

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Dahlen HG, Tracy S, Tracy M, Bisits A, Brown C, Thornton C (2014) Rates of obstetric intervention and associated perinatal mortality and morbidity among low-risk women giving birth in private and public hospitals in NSW (2000–2008): a linked data population-based cohort study. BMJ Open 4(5):e004551

    PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Davis-Floyd R (2003, 2004) Birth as an American rite of passage, 2nd edn. University of California Press, Berkeley

    Google Scholar 

  • Dencker A, Nilsson C, Begley C, Jangsten E, Mollberg M, Patel H et al (2018) Causes and outcomes in studies of fear of childbirth: a systematic review. Women Birth 32(2):99–111

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Donaldson C, Hundley V, Mapp T (1998) Willingness to pay: a method for measuring preferences for maternity care? Birth 25(1):32–39

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Downe S, Finlayson K, Oladapo OT, Bonet M, Gülmezoglu AM (2018) What matters to women during childbirth: a systematic qualitative review. PLoS One 13(4):e0194906-e

    Google Scholar 

  • Rigg EC, Schmied V, Peters K, Dahlen HG (2017) Why do women choose an unregulated birth worker to birth at home in Australia: a qualitative study. BMC Pregnancy Childbirth 17(1):1–14

    Google Scholar 

  • Feeley C, Thomson G (2016) Tensions and conflicts in ‘choice’: womens’ experiences of freebirthing in the UK. Midwifery 41:16–21

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Fenwick J, Toohill J, Creedy DK, Smith J, Gamble J (2015) Sources, responses and moderators of childbirth fear in Australian women: a qualitative investigation. Midwifery 31:239–246

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Fenwick J, Toohill J, Slavin V, Creedy DK, Gamble J (2018) Original research - quantitative: improving psychoeducation for women fearful of childbirth: evaluation of a research translation project. Women Birth 31:1–9

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Forster DA, McLachlan HL, Davey M-A, Biro MA, Farrell T, Gold L et al (2016) Continuity of care by a primary midwife (caseload midwifery) increases women’s satisfaction with antenatal, intrapartum and postpartum care: results from the COSMOS randomised controlled trial. BMC Pregnancy Childbirth 16(1):28

    PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Geissbuehler V, Eberhard J (2002) Fear of childbirth during pregnancy: a study of more than 8000 pregnant women. J Psychosom Obstet Gynaecol 23(4):229

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Gert AK, van Bakel HJ, van den Heuvel M, Vingerhoets AJ (2016) Severe fear of childbirth: its features, assessment, prevalence, determinants, consequences and possible treatments. Psychol Top 25(1):107–127

    Google Scholar 

  • Haines H, Pallant JF, Karlström A, Hildingsson I (2011) Cross-cultural comparison of levels of childbirth-related fear in an Australian and Swedish sample. Midwifery 27:560–567

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Haines H, Rubertsson C, Pallant JF, Hildingsson I (2012a) Womens’ attitudes and beliefs of childbirth and association with birth preference: a comparison of a Swedish and an Australian sample in mid-pregnancy. Midwifery 28(6):e850–e856

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Haines HM, Rubertsson C, Pallant Julie F, Hildingsson I (2012b) The influence of women’s fear, attitudes and beliefs of childbirth on mode and experience of birth. BMC Pregnancy Childbirth 12(1):55

    PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Halperin O, Sarid O, Cwikel J (2014) A comparison of Israeli Jewish and Arab women’s birth perceptions. Midwifery 30:853–861

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Hamama-Raz Y, Sommerfeld E, Ken-Dror D, Lacher R, Ben-Ezra M (2017) The role of intra-personal and inter-personal factors in fear of childbirth: a preliminary study. Psychiatry Q 88(2):385–396

    Google Scholar 

  • Hildingsson I, Nilsson C, Karlström A, Lundgren I (2011) Research: a longitudinal survey of childbirth-related fear and associated factors. J Obstet Gynecol Neonatal Nurs 40:532–543

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Hildingsson I, Haines H, Karlstrom A, Nystedt A (2017) Presence and process of fear of birth during pregnancy-findings from a longitudinal cohort study. Women Birth 30:E242–E2E7

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Hildingsson I, Karlström A, Rubertsson C, Haines H (2018) Women with fear of childbirth might benefit from having a known midwife during labour. Women Birth 32(1):58–63

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Hollander M, de Miranda E, van Dillen J, de Graaf I, Vandenbussche F, Holten L (2017) Women’s motivations for choosing a high risk birth setting against medical advice in the Netherlands: a qualitative analysis. BMC Pregnancy Childbirth 17(1):423

    PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission (2017) Bringing them home: National Enquiry into the Separation of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Children from their Families Canberra Australia Commonwealth of Australia; 1997 [January 2019]. Available from: https://www.humanrights.gov.au/sites/default/files/content/pdf/social_justice/bringing_them_home_report.pdf

  • Jha P, Larsson M, Christensson K, Svanberg AS (2018) Fear of childbirth and depressive symptoms among postnatal women: a cross-sectional survey from Chhattisgarh, India. Women Birth 31(2):E122–EE33

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Jordan B (1993) Birth in four cultures: a crosscultural investigation of childbirth in Yucatan, Holland, Sweden, and the United States. Waveland Press, Prospect Heights

    Google Scholar 

  • Karlstrom A, Radestad I, Eriksson C, Rubertsson C, Nystedt A, Hildingsson I (2010) Cesarean section without medical reason, 1997 to 2006: a Swedish register study. Birth 37(1):11–20

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Kassebaum NJ, Bertozzi-Villa A, Coggeshall MS, Shackelford KA, Steiner C, Heuton KR et al (2014) Global, regional, and national levels and causes of maternal mortality during 1990–2013: a systematic analysis for the global burden of disease study 2013. Lancet 384(9947):980–1004

    PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Katayoun A, Fatemeh N, Masoumeh S, Maryam B (2017) The role of fear of childbirth in pregnancy related anxiety in Iranian women: a qualitative research. Electron Physician 9(2):3733–3740

    Google Scholar 

  • Kildea S (2006) Risky business: contested knowledge over safe birthing services for aboriginal women. Health Sociol Rev 15(4):387–396. https://doi.org/10.5172/hesr.2006.15.4.387

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kildea S, Wardaguga M (2009) Childbirth in Australia: aboriginal and Torres Strait islander women. In: Selin H (ed) Childbirth across cultures: ideas and practices of pregnancy, childbirth and the postpartum. Springer, New York, pp 275–285

    Google Scholar 

  • Kildea S, Kruske S, Barclay L, Tracy S (2010) ‘Closing the gap’: how maternity services can contribute to reducing poor maternal infant health outcomes for aboriginal and Torres Strait islander women. Rural Remote Health 10(3):1383

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Kildea S, Gao Y, Rolfe M, Josif CM, Bar-Zeev SJ, Steenkamp M et al (2016) Remote links: redesigning maternity care for Aboriginal women from remote communities in Northern Australia – a comparative cohort study. Midwifery 34:47–57

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Korukcu O, Bulut O, Kukulu K (2019) From experiences to expectations: a quantitative study on the fear of childbirth among multigravida women. Arch Psychiatr Nurs. 33(3):248–253. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.apnu.2018.11.002

  • Kruske S, Kildea S, Barclay L (2006) Cultural safety and maternity care for aboriginal and Torres Strait islander Australians. Women Birth 19(3):73–77

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Larsson B, Hildingsson I, Ternström E, Rubertsson C, Karlström A (2018) Original research - qualitative: women’s experience of midwife-led counselling and its influence on childbirth fear: a qualitative study. Women Birth 32(1):e88–e94

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Liamputtong P, Yimyam S, Parisunyakul S, Baosoung C, Sansiriphun N (2005) Traditional beliefs about pregnancy and child birth among women from Chiang Mai. Northern Thailand 21(2):139

    Google Scholar 

  • Lukasse M, Schei B, Ryding EL (2014) Prevalence and associated factors of fear of childbirth in six European countries. Sex Reprod Healthc 5:99–106

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Lundberg PC, Gerezgiher A (2008) Experiences from pregnancy and childbirth related to female genital mutilation among Eritrean immigrant women in Sweden. Midwifery 24(2):214–225

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Lupton D (2012) ‘Precious cargo’: foetal subjects, risk and reproductive citizenship. Crit Public Health 22(3):329–340

    Google Scholar 

  • Lupton D (2013) Risk, 2nd edn. Routledge, London

    Google Scholar 

  • Mahboubeh K, Katayon V, Mona Nasir zadeh M (2014) Investigating different factors of fear in normal delivery among pregnant women. Arak -a cross sectional study. J Fasa Univ Med Sci 4(2):161–167

    Google Scholar 

  • Mein Smith P (2002) Blood, birth, babies, bodies [expressions of concern about population and race]. Aust Fem Stud 17(39):305–323

    Google Scholar 

  • Michael CK (2005) Obstetricianʼs fear of childbirth: how did it happen? Birth 32(3):207

    Google Scholar 

  • Miller S, Abalos E, Chamillard M, Ciapponi A, Colaci D, Comande D et al (2016) Beyond too little, too late and too much, too soon: a pathway towards evidence-based, respectful maternity care worldwide. Lancet 388(10056):2176–2192

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Moore MF (2016) Multicultural differences in women’s expectations of birth. ABNF J Inc 27(2):39–43

    Google Scholar 

  • Moore S (2018) Don’t tell women to shut up about childbirth. Sharing stories saves lives The Guardian News and Media (GNM); 2018 [cited 2018 September 2018]. Available from: https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2018/sep/13/women-childbirth-stories-giving-birth-painful

  • Nilsson C (2014) The delivery room: is it a safe place? A hermeneutic analysis of women’s negative birth experiences. Sex Reprod Healthc 5:199–204

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Nilsson C, Hessman E, Sjöblom H, Dencker A, Jangsten E, Mollberg M et al (2018) Definitions, measurements and prevalence of fear of childbirth: a systematic review. BMC Pregnancy Childbirth 18(1):28

    CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Phipps A (2014) The politics of the body: gender in a neoliberal and neoconservative age. Polity Press, Malden

    Google Scholar 

  • Preis H, Benyamini Y, Eberhard-Gran M, Garthus-Niegel S (2018) Childbirth preferences and related fears - comparison between Norway and Israel. BMC Pregnancy Childbirth 18(1):362

    PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Reiger K, Dempsey R (2006) Performing birth in a culture of fear: an embodied crisis of late modernity. Health Sociol Rev 15(4):364

    Google Scholar 

  • Rondung E (2018) Psychological perspectives on fear of birth: heterogeneity, mechanisms and treatment. Doctoral Thesis, Mid Sweden University, Sundsvall

    Google Scholar 

  • Rondung E, Thomten J, Sundin O (2016) Psychological perspectives on fear of childbirth. J Anxiety Disord 44:80–91

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Rondung E, Ekdahl J, Sundin Ö (2018) Potential mechanisms in fear of birth: the role of pain catastrophizing and intolerance of uncertainty. Birth 46(1):61–68

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Roosevelt L, Low LK (2016) Research: exploring fear of childbirth in the United States through a qualitative assessment of the Wijma delivery expectancy questionnaire. J Obstet Gynecol Neonatal Nurs 45:28–38

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Saisto T, Salmela-Aro K, Nurmi J-E, Könönen T, Halmesmäki E (2001) A randomized controlled trial of intervention in fear of childbirth. Obstet Gynecol 98(Part 1):820–826

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Salomonsson B (2012) Fear is in the air: midwives’ perspectives of fear of childbirth and childbirth self-efficacy and fear of childbirth in nulliparous pregnant women. Linköping University, Linköping

    Google Scholar 

  • Sandall J (2016) Midwife-led continuity models versus other models of care for childbearing women. Cochrane Database Syst Rev 4:CD004667

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Sercekus P, Okumus H (2009) Fears associated with childbirth among nulliparous women in Turkey. Midwifery 25(2):155–162

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Shah R (2016) Bypassing birthing centres for child birth: a community-based study in rural Chitwan Nepal. BMC Health Serv Res 16(1):597

    PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Sheen K, Slade P (2018) Examining the content and moderators of women’s fears for giving birth: a meta-synthesis. J Clin Nurs 27(13–14):2523–2535

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Stoll K, Edmonds JK, Hall WA (2015) Fear of childbirth and preference for Cesarean delivery among young American women before childbirth. Birth 42(3):270

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Stoll K, Hauck Y, Downe S, Edmonds J, Gross MM, Malott A et al (2016) Cross-cultural development and psychometric evaluation of a measure to assess fear of childbirth prior to pregnancy. Sex Reprod Healthc 8:49–54

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Stoll KH, Hauck YL, Downe S, Payne D, Hall WA (2017) International childbirth attitudes- prior to pregnancy study T. Preference for cesarean section in young nulligravid women in eight OECD countries and implications for reproductive health education. Reprod Health 14(1):1–9

    Google Scholar 

  • Striebich S, Mattern E, Ayerle GM (2018) Review article: support for pregnant women identified with fear of childbirth (FOC)/tokophobia – a systematic review of approaches and interventions. Midwifery 61:97–115

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Sukhee A (2009) Childbirth in Korea. In: Selin H (ed) Childbirth across cultures: ideas and practices of pregnancy, childbirth and the postpartum. Springer, New York, pp 77–85

    Google Scholar 

  • Takegata M, Haruna M, Matsuzaki M, Shiraishi M, Okano T, Severinsson E (2014) Antenatal fear of childbirth and sense of coherence among healthy pregnant women in Japan: a cross-sectional study. Arch Womens Ment Health 17(5):403

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Ternström E, Hildingsson I, Haines H, Rubertsson C (2015) Higher prevalence of childbirth related fear in foreign born pregnant women – findings from a community sample in Sweden. Midwifery 31:445–450

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Ternström E, Hildingsson I, Haines H, Karlström A, Sundin Ö, Ekdahl J et al (2017) A randomized controlled study comparing internet-based cognitive behavioral therapy and counselling by standard care for fear of birth – a study protocol. Sex Reprod Healthc 13:75–82

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Theuring S, Koroma AP, Harms G (2018) “In the hospital, there will be nobody to pamper me”: a qualitative assessment on barriers to facility-based delivery in post-Ebola Sierra Leone. Reprod Health 15:155

    PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Ünsalver BÖ, Sezen C (2017) EV1538: group art therapy for the management of fear of giving birth. Eur Psychiatry 41(Supplement):S909

    Google Scholar 

  • Van Hollen C (1994) Perspectives on the anthropology of birth. Culture. Med Psychiat 18(4):501

    Google Scholar 

  • Waldenstrom U, Hildingsson I, Ryding EL (2006) Antenatal fear of childbirth and its association with subsequent caesarean section and experience of childbirth. BJOG 113(6):638–646

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Wilson JP (2014) Noongar Women’s birth experience. Australia University of Notre Dame ResearchOnline@ND 2014–01-01T08:00:00Z, Fremantle

    Google Scholar 

  • Winnicot DW (1971) Playing and reality. Tavistock, London

    Google Scholar 

  • World Health Organization (2018) WHO recommendations: intrapartum care for a positive childbirth experience. World Health Organization, Geneva

    Google Scholar 

  • Yuhui S, Ying J, Qingqi Z, Yanfei Y, Hui Y, Chun C et al (2016) Influencing factors associated with the mode of birth among childbearing women in Hunan Province: a cross-sectional study in China. BMC Pregnancy Childbirth 16:1–9

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Rural Health, University of Melbourne, Shepparton, VIC, Australia

    Helen Haines

Authors
  1. Helen Haines
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. NHS Trust City Hospital, Sandwell & West Birmingham Hospital, Birmingham, UK

    Kathryn Gutteridge

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2020 Springer Nature Switzerland AG

About this chapter

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this chapter

Haines, H. (2020). Global Perspectives of Childbirth Fear Including the Relevant Evidence. In: Gutteridge, K. (eds) Understanding Anxiety, Worry and Fear in Childbearing. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-21063-2_2

Download citation

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-21063-2_2

  • Published:

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-030-21062-5

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-030-21063-2

  • eBook Packages: MedicineMedicine (R0)

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Search

Navigation