The Relationship between Happiness during Pregnancy,And Labor Pain Coping Behaviors

Background: Happiness is accounted for one of the psychological health criteria, and is considered as one of the six fundamental emotions- in human beings. Labor pain is also considered as one of the exclusive experiences, which demands pregnant women’s ability to cope with it. Happiness may give this potential ability to the pregnant women to apply skillful coping methods to tolerate the labor pain, but there is no registered evidence about this relationship. Aim: To determine the relationship between happiness during pregnancy and labor pain coping behaviors. Method: In this correlational study 80 low risk pregnant women, in the 36 – 40 weeks of pregnancy, who have referred to Omolbanin Hospital for prenatal care were selected using convenience sampling. Demographic information and the level of happiness were measured during pregnancy using Oxford Happiness Questionnaire. Labor pain coping behaviors were measured during contractions, and each half an hour from the dilatation of 3–5 cm till delivery using Labor Pain Coping Behaviors Observation Form. Data were analyzed with SPSS version 16 using Kruskal-Wallis, One- way ANOVA, Mann-Whitney tests and Spearman and Pearson correlation coefficients. Results: The frequency of low, medium and high level of happiness was 11.3%,  72.5%, and  16.2% respectively. Also, 16.3% of the pregnant women showed unfavorable, 50% acceptable, and 33.7% favorable labor pain coping behaviors. The results of Spearman’s correlation test revealed that there was a significant relationship between pregnancy happiness and the mean score of labor pain coping behaviors, (p = 0.000, and r = 0.444), i.e. higher levels of happiness during pregnancyis associated with more favorable labor pain coping behaviors. Conclusion: The parturient's behavior during labor indicates her level of emotion. So in parturient’s clinical management, in addition to physiological signs and clinical examinations these two issues should be considered as well.