Graduation Date
5-2017
Document Type
Senior Thesis
Degree Name
Bachelor of Science
Department
Nursing
Department or Program Chair
Andrea Boyle, PhD., FNAP
First Reader
Luanne Linnard-Palmer EdD, RN
Abstract
This presentation will cover the relationship between the concepts of decreased self-efficacy in pregnant women’s abilities to deliver their babies vaginally, fear of the pain and duration of labor process, and the acceptance of medical intervention without sufficient intrapartum education surrounding delivery methods. These interrelated variables impede the concept of informed choice. The current state of the problem surrounds women with low self-efficacy who are predicted to have negative childbirth experiences such as, consenting to an astronomically high rate of cesarean sections. The focus for nursing is that low-risk, healthy women who elect cesarean sections without the knowledge that permanent disability or death can result for either the mother or fetus, inversely increases morbidity and mortality associated with childbirth. This is significant because the rise in cesarean sections correlates with low self-efficacy has become an international public health concern (Gourounti, 2015; Khorsandi, 2012). In 1985, the World Health Organization composed a position statement that internationally, the cesarean delivery rate should be between ten to fifteen percent of all births, when justified to prevent fetal or maternal mortality, or both (WHO, 2015). Since then, the cesarean rate has continued to rise from a third to a half of all deliveries in developed countries (Caughey, 2016; Gourounti, 2015). Further critiqued research will be shared during the presentation including how Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) can develop from Fear of Childbirth (FOC) and several nursing interventions to increase self-efficacy using the Health Belief Model and the education of women to make informed decisions in childbirth. The presentation will cover the nursing problem summary and corresponding scientific literature.