Childbirth Related Fear and Worry During Pregnancy

This is a study of childbirth related anxiety, fear or worry, in which we follow women from mid pregnancy until about 8 months postpartum. Our overall aim is to enhance our understanding of psychological factors contributing to childbirth related fear or worry. Specifically, we wish to investigate * associations between psychological factors (pain catastrophizing, intolerance of uncertainty, worry beliefs, cognitive avoidance, insomnia, life satisfaction, anxiety- and depressive symptoms, worry parameters, and behavioral avoidance) and childbirth related fear or anxiety during pregnancy * the impact of childbirth related fear or anxiety and other psychological factors during pregnancy on epidural use during delivery and obstetric outcome variables * childbirth related fear or anxiety during pregnancy, psychological factors, epidural use, and obstetric outcome variables as predictors of self-reported birth experiences 6-10 months postpartum. * childbirth related fear or anxiety during pregnancy, psychological factors, epidural use, obstetric outcome variables, and self-reported birth experiences as predictors of childbirth related fear or anxiety 6-10 months postpartum Women in mid-pregnancy will be recruited at routine check-ups with midwifes working in antenatal health care units in two Swedish regions. After consenting to participate, they will be answering a questionnaire with sociodemographic and obstetric background data, measures of childbirth related fear and anxiety, and measures of psychological variables with a potential relation to childbirth related anxiety. 6-10 months after giving birth they will be contacted again with a postpartum follow-up questionnaire asking questions about the experience of giving birth, postpartum levels of childbirth related fear or anxiety, and thoughts about possible future childbirths. They will also be asked if willing to let the research team include information from their obstetric medical chart (e.g. birth mode and bir