The Effect of Cold Compress on Pain and Anxiety of Active Phase of Labor in Primiparous Women

Introduction: Labor pain is an unpleasant experience for most women and its severity can increase with stress, fear and anxiety. This pain, accompanied by anxiety, causes abnormality in the uterus, prolonged labor and the need for operative delivery. Considering the high complications of drug therapy on the one hand and the desire of many mothers to use non-pharmacological methods in this regard, the present study was aimed to determine the effect of cold compress on pain intensity and anxiety of active phase of labor in primipara women was done.Materials and Methods: In this randomized clinical trial, 90 nulliparous women who candidate for normal delivery, referring to Sina Kamyaran Hospital, affiliated to Kurdistan University of Medical Sciences, were randomly divided into two groups of test and control. Before the intervention, demographic and midwifery characteristics, and explicit anxiety questionnaire was determined by two groups and the pain score was determined by the numerical scale of pain. Then, in the experimental group, in addition to receiving routine care of labor in active phase, a sachet of ice was placed every half hour, and each time for 10 minutes on the sacral site of the mother, and for the control group only routine maternity care was provided.Then, the intensity of pain was measured every 1 hour and the anxiety score in dilatations of 4-8 cm and 8-10 cm in two groups was evaluated. Finally, the data were analyzed by SPSS software and analyzed using independent t-test, Chi-square and Fischer exact tests.Results: In this study, the two groups did not have a significant difference in terms of demographic and midwifery characteristics, severity of pain and anxiety before intervention. After intervention, although the severity of pain was increased in both groups, with the progression of labor, but in accordance with independent t-test, this increase in pain was significantly higher in the control group than in the control group (P <0.001). With progress of labor,mothers anxiety increased in control group, but in the experimental group, in both stages, dilatation of 4-8 cm and 8-10 cm, with a significant difference in anxiety decreased (P <0.001).Conclusion: Considering the positive effect of using cold compressed air for 10 minutes and maintaining it at intervals of 30 minutes in reducing pain and anxiety, cold compress can be used as an affordable, non-invasive and cost-effective method in childbirth centers, along with other available methods to relieve pain and control maternal anxiety during labor and delivery.

کلیدواژه ها:

Cold compress ، Labor pain ، Anxiety ، Active phase ، nonpharmacologic approaches ، pain relieve