The Effect of Peanut Ball Application on the Delivery Process, Birth Pain, and Birth Process: a Randomized Controlled Study

A group was determined to be involved in the study after obtaining consent from the pregnant women participating in the research. The purpose of the study was explained to all pregnant women, informing them that the data would be anonymized and privacy principles would be adhered to.

Experimental Group: Pregnant women who received the peanut ball application were provided with necessary information about the ball and how to use it through visual aids showing the positions provided by the midwife. A total of 5 positions were shown to the pregnant women. The peanut ball was used when the cervical dilation reached 6 cm. Pregnant women in active labor, the transition phase, and the second stage with the peanut ball were directed to change positions every 30-45 minutes. Emphasis was placed on selecting positions in which the pregnant women felt comfortable.

Control Group: No intervention was made other than routine practices within the clinic for pregnant women. It was observed that pregnant women generally spent the time before delivery lying down and connected to electronic fetal monitoring.

In the Birth Monitoring Form, the gestational week found in the patient's file, interventions and medications applied in the first stage of labor, the situation of episiotomy application in the second stage, the newborn's birth time, and 1st and 5th APGAR scores, newborn's length, weight, head circumference, and gender were recorded. In both groups, labor pains during the dilation stage were evaluated three times using the Visual Anolog Scale (VAS) when the dilation was at 6 cm, 9 cm, and 10 cm. During this period, the pregnant women were asked to rate the pain they felt on the VAS scale from 1 to 10, and the values expressed were recorded by the researcher. The childbirth comfort scale and the form indicating mothers' views