ABSTRACT
AIM: To clarify the concept of fear of childbirth among pregnant women and to examine its current measure tools. BACKGROUND: Fear of childbirth is a psychological symptom, prevalent among pregnant women, which negatively impacts women's health and well-being. It has become an increasingly concerning issue in perinatal mental health. However, due to its poor conceptualization, it presents difficulty in conducting reliable assessments and identifying risk factors. METHODS: The Walker and Avant approach to concept analysis guided this review. Six bibliographic databases were systematically searched for published research from their inception date to May 2023. Additional records were identified by manually searching the reference lists of relevant studies. Quantitative and qualitative studies investigating fear of childbirth in pregnant women were included. RESULTS: Three critical attributes have been identified: cognitive impairments, affective disorders and somatic symptoms. Antecedents include perceived a real or anticipated threat of pregnancy or its outcomes, low perceived self-coping ability and unmet social support needs. Consequences include processing and avoiding behaviours. This study also identified the dimensions of fear of childbirth, including 6 primary categories and 14 subcategories. The content of five scales was analysed and none covered all domains. CONCLUSIONS: The current analysis provides healthcare providers with a more comprehensive framework to assess and identify fear of childbirth. Further research is needed to develop a suitable instrument that covers all the attributes and dimensions of this concept and assesses its severity. IMPACT: This conceptual analysis provides a comprehensive insight into the phenomenon of fear of childbirth. This will help family members, healthcare providers and policymakers to identify the psychological needs of pregnant women and improve the quality of antenatal care. PATIENT OR PUBLIC CONTRIBUTION: Not applicable as no new data were generated.
ABSTRACT
Background: Measles-mumps-rubella (MMR) vaccination is the safest and most effective way of protecting children from three potentially fatal diseases and yet, high numbers of children remained unimmunised. Objective: The study aimed to determine the parents' knowledge and practice regarding MMR vaccination and examine its associations. Methods: This is a cross-sectional study conducted among the 202 parents in Selangor Malaysia using simple random sampling. The parents' knowledge and practice regarding MMR vaccination were measured using the modified self-administered questionnaire developed by Awadh et al. The data were analysed using the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences Statistic for Windows (version 23.0) and the significant level (P) was set at P < 0.05. Results: Overall, 53.5% of parents had low knowledge of MMR vaccination, 35.1% had moderate knowledge and 11.4% had high knowledge of MMR vaccination. Meanwhile, 54.5% had good practice of MMR vaccination and 45.4% reported they had not practised immunising their children with the MMR vaccine. The number of respondents who had a higher level of knowledge and good MMR vaccination practices was 20.0%. There is a significant association between parental knowledge of MMR vaccination and the practice of immunising their children with the MMR vaccine (P > 0.001). Besides, there was a significant association between the level of knowledge on MMR vaccination with parental education background (χ 2 = 12.06; P = 0.002), number of children (P = 0.040) and a working family (P = 0.030). The Pearson's chi-squared test showed a significant association between gender (P = 0.040), the number of children (P = 0.05) and level of practice of MMR vaccination. Conclusion: The majority of parents have low knowledge of MMR vaccination but they practice good MMR vaccination. It is necessary to consider parents' level of knowledge when planning the health promotions regarding MMR vaccinations.
