Art Therapy as Treatment for Fear of Childbirth

Not Applicable

• Conditions: Fear of Childbirth
• Interventions: Other: Art Therapy and therapeutic conversations; Other: Therapeutic conversations

• Registration Number: NCT01457482
• Lead Sponsor: Helsingborgs Hospital

Brief Summary

Earlier research has shown that pregnant women with a pronounced fear of childbirth have a significantly increased risk for birth complications and subsequent psychological trauma. In Sweden and also internationally, women in fear of childbirth are treated in many differing ways. Evidence for best care for these women is lacking. The Art Therapy method is a creative, psycho-therapeutic form of treatment which has been used for several decades within psychiatry. It has recently been seen that the Art Therapy method has positive effects during treatment for crisis reactions.

Recruitment has recently been initiated for a randomized controlled study of Art Therapy for the treatment of fear of childbirth.

The hypothesis for the study is as follows:

H1 = treatment with Art Therapy and therapeutic conversations will result in a decrease in fear of childbirth when compared to treatment by therapeutic conversations only.

The instrument which is to be used for measurement of childbirth fear is the Wijma Delivery Expectancy Questionnaire (W-DEQ). This is a well validated instrument which was developed in Sweden. A power calculation has shown a need for 62 x 2 participants; a total of 124 women.

Detailed Description

Not available

Study Timeline

• Study Start: 2011-05
• Study First Submitted: 2011-10-19
• Study First Submitted QC: 2011-10-19
• Study First Posted: 2011-10-24
• Status Verified: 2012-02
• Last Update Submitted: 2012-02-13
• Last Update Posted: 2012-02-14
• Primary Completion: 2012-12

Recruitment & Eligibility

• Status: UNKNOWN
• Sex: Female
• Target Recruitment: 124

Inclusion Criteria

• Pregnant women
• Pronounced fear of childbirth

Exclusion Criteria

• Women with a current psychiatric diagnosis
• Women who do not understand Swedish
• Women with a current substance misuse

Study & Design

• Study Type: INTERVENTIONAL
• Study Design: PARALLEL

Arm && Interventions

Group	Intervention	Description
Art therapy group	Art Therapy and therapeutic conversations	Treatment in this arm consists of five Art Therapy sessions and therapeutic conversations.
Therapeutic conversation group	Therapeutic conversations	Treatment by therapeutic conversations only

Primary Outcome Measures

Name	Time	Method
Scores for the Wijma Delivery Expectancy Questionnaire (W-DEQ)	Change in W-DEQ scores measured at entry to the study (approximately gestational weeks 20 to 31) and again at gestational week 36.

Trial Locations

Locations (1)

Helsingborg Hospital; 🇸🇪 Helsingborg, Skane, Sweden