Abstract
Aim The aim of this study was to determine the effect of
educational software on self-efficacy of Iranian pregnant
women to cope with labor.
Methods This study was a randomized controlled trial
which was carried out on 150 Iranian nulliparous pregnant
women randomly assigned to two groups of 75 women
each. The control group routinely did not receive any kind
of childbirth education and the intervention group only
received the childbirth educational software for 6–8 weeks.
In order to determine self-efficacy, the Childbirth Self
Efficacy Questionnaire (CBSEI) was used which measures
the outcome expectancy and the self-efficacy expectancy of
the first and second stages of labor separately. This questionnaire
was completed at 28–32-week gestation as a pretest
and at 36–38 weeks as a post-test by the participants.
Data were analyzed using Chi-square, Mann–Whitney
U and Wilcoxon tests.
Results After the intervention, the median and mean of
CBSEI scores for the intervention and the control groups
were 607, 604/20 ± 16/630 and 394, 392/51 ± 16/758,
respectively. There was a statistical difference between the
two groups (p = 0.001). Also, statistically significant differences
existed in the median of outcome expectancy and
self-efficacy expectancy after intervention in both stages of
labor between the two groups (p = 0.001).
Conclusions The educational software program signifi-
cantly increased self-efficacy of Iranian pregnant women to
cope with labor. Despite lack of educational childbirth
classes in Iran, the use of this method is recommended.
However, to find whether this technique can be substituted
for the educational classes, further studies are needed.