Background: Childbirth is a fundamental physical and emotional struggle. This study is an attempt to investigate the psychological factors related to the first delivery, and its relationship with the preference of the type of subsequent deliveries in women.
Materials and Methods: This is a descriptive-analytical study in which 380 pregnant mothers referred to Qamar Bani Hashem Hospital in Khoy, Iran, who were hospitalized for childbirth, were selected by simple random sampling. Participants were first asked about their preference for the next type of delivery. Afterwards, the Individual and Social Profile Questionnaire, the Edinburgh Depression Questionnaire, the overt and covert anxiety of Spielberger, and the Wake-Forest questionnaire in the interview method were completed. All data were analyzed using SPSS software version 22.0.
Results: There was no significant statistical relationship between psychological variables and the preferred type of delivery. Age, spouse's education level, and income were among the predictors of preference for delivery. These factors had a statistically significant relationship with confidence in the physician in participating women. Apart from income, there was a statistically significant relationship between other social factors with preference of the type of delivery. There was also another significant relationship between complications during childbirth and postpartum with a preference for the type of the next delivery (P<0.05).
Conclusion: Based on the results,there was a relationship between socio-individual factors and complications during and/or after childbirth with a preference for the next type of delivery in women. Further studies are needed.