Introduction: Pain and anxiety control is important during the first (1st) stage of labor. Warm water showering was suggested to alleviate pain and anxiety during labor.
Aim of the study: The present study aims to evaluate the influence of warm water showers on labor pain during the 1st stage of labor. Subjects and Methods: The present study is an interventional randomized controlled study. This study was conducted at Almatrentaih Private Hospital at Alexandria, Egypt. One hundred women in the 1st stage of labor who met the inclusion criteria were included in the study. They were equally divided into two groups. Random allocation computer software assigned participants to either the experimental or control group. A pre designed questionnaire consisted of two parts was developed, validated and used for measurement of the necessary data. Part one: labor data, such as age, gestational age, parity, and body mass index (BMI). Part two Visual Analogue Scale (VAS) ranged from zero (being none at all) to ten (being the most possible) used for measurement of the degree of pain of the first stage of labor, anxiety, and fatigue. After invitation and agreement of the subjects to participate in this study, the pre designed questionnaire was completed. Then, the experimental group participants entered the shower for 30 minutes, and the control group had the usual pain relief measures at the department. Again, the entire subjects were asked to indicate their degree of labor pain, anxiety, and fatigue using the Visual Analogue Scale (VAS). Results: No statistically significant differences were found between the studied groups regarding the basic data. No statistically significant differences were found between groups prior to intervention. The study group had significantly lower pain and anxiety levels (P = 0.011, and P = 0.018) respectively, when compared with the control group. However, no statistically significant differences were found between both groups regarding fatigue. In regression analysis, exposure to warm showers was a significant predictor (P = 0.005) of pain reduction in the studied women. Conclusions: Exposure to warm showers alleviates pain and anxiety in the 1st stage of labor.