Relationships between partner's support during labour and maternal outcomes

The objective of this study was to measure the relationship between women's ratings of partners' participation during labour and maternal outcomes as measured by anxiety level, pain perception, dosage of pain-relieving drug u sed and length of labour. A convenience sample of 45 primigravid women was selected from the postpart um unit of a public hospital in Hong Kong. They were all first-time Chinese mothers, aged 18 or over, who had attended antenatal classes and had their partners present during labour. The State Scale of the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory was used to measure ma ternal anxiety during labour. Labour pain was measured by the Visual Analog ue Scale. A series of scales were developed to measure partners' participat ion during labour. Women's ratings of partners' practical support were significantly lower tha n their ratings of partners' emotional support. There were no significant a ssociations between level of emotional support and maternal outcome measure s. However, perceived practical support was positively related to the dosag e of pain-relieving drug used and total length of labour. Positive relation ships between the duration of partners' presence and women's ratings of per ceived support provided by partners during labour were also found.