THE COMPLEXITY OF LABOR PAIN - EXPERIENCES OF 278 WOMEN

All women giving birth over a period of 2 weeks in a major city of Swe den, except non-Swedish speaking women and there with elective Caesare an sections, were asked about their experience of pain 2 days after th e birth. The sensory (pain intensity) and affective (negative or posit ive experience) dimensions of pain, as well as need for pain relief du ring labor were explored. The 278 women who returned completed questio nnaires (91%) reported high levels of pain, 41% worst imaginable pain, in spite of wide use of pharmacological pain relief Only 9% had no an algesia. Pain was not an entirely negative experience, 28% assessing i t as more positive than negative, suggesting that coping with pain is a rewarding experience for some women. Move than 30 different explanat ory variables were included in regression analysis to explain the vari ation in pain intensity and pain attitude scores, but only five contri buted to the respective model. Most of the variables explaining pain i ntensity, namely anxiety during labor, expected pain, expected birth e xperience, midwife support and duration of labor; differed from the va riables explaining attitude to pain. These were pain intensity, anxiet y expected birth experience physical well-being during pregnancy and e mergency Caesarean section. The explanatory values were relatively low , especially, for the model explaining pain intensity (R(2) = 15%). Th e findings are discussed in the light of the different character and m eaning of childbirth pain compared with pain related to disease.