Background: Women suffering from childbirth related fear are offered support and counseling in order to reduce the fear and make the birth experience as positive as possible. Support and treatment are differently organized in different hospitals and the effect of this treatment has not been fully investigated. Objective: To compare and describe experiences of counseling and subsequent childbirth in women who underwent counseling due to childbirth fear and women who did not take part in counseling. Design: A regional longitudinal study. Setting: Three hospitals in the middle-north of Sweden. Participants: 936 women of whom 82 underwent counseling due to childbirth fear. Method: Data were collected from questionnaires answered by women in mid pregnancy, 2 months and 1 year after birth. Results: Women who underwent counseling due to childbirth fear were satisfied with given support. They described a more negative birth experience two month after birth (p < 0.05) compared to women who did not receive counseling. They also thought the difficulties during birth would leave such marks that made them not wanting more children (p < 0.01). After one year there were no differences between the groups. Conclusions: Women who received counseling due to fear of childbirth, had one year after birth changed their perception of the overall birth experience. They were more positive and were no longer more afraid of giving birth than women who did not underwent counseling during pregnancy. This may be a result of the counseling, but other factors can contribute to the more positive birth experience and that childbirth fear has declined.
2013