The Effect of Prenatal Yoga-Assisted Birth Preparation Training on Fear of Childbirth and Childbirth Self-Efficacy

Pregnancy is a life event that requires biopsychosocial adaptation. Although pregnancy is often perceived as a positive and physiological process, women experience a wide range of fears of childbirth, from simple anxiety to severe phobic fear (tokophobia), during their pregnancy. It is thought that the feeling of experiencing pain often lies at the root of the fear of childbirth. However, fear of childbirth can be experienced for many different reasons depending on biological, psychological and sociocultural factors, personal characteristics and experiences. The prevalence of fear of childbirth in the world is 14%. In Turkey, the prevalence of fear of childbirth varies between 16% and 69%, and 21% of women experience fear of childbirth at a clinical level. In general, fear is a physiological reaction that is important for the safety of the individual, and it is thought that low-level fear of childbirth will prepare individuals for parenting. However, uncontrollable fear of childbirth can lead to physical, emotional and behavioural changes that negatively affect the woman's daily life, prolonged labour and childbirth complications. Most importantly, women who cannot cope with the fear of childbirth may perceive cesarean section as the only solution and turn to elective cesarean section. The total cesarean section rate in Turkey is 52%, which is much higher than the World Health Organization's acceptable cesarean section rate. Fear of childbirth has been accepted as an important public health problem that needs intervention both in the world and in our country, and research on fear of childbirth has accelerated, especially in the last twenty years.