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Effect of “Heat Therapy” on Intensity of Labor Pains among Primigravida Mothers, Chandigarh: A Quasi Experimental Study

Sukhwinder Kaur, Shashi Kumari, Seema Chopra

Abstract


Background: Childbirth, while primarily a joyful event, also exposes the mother to one of the most severe forms of pain reported. Continuous labor pain affects respiratory system, blood circulation, endocrine glands and other activities of the body. Labor pain is a distressing and psychologically traumatizing experience to the parturient but little data exist regarding pain relief in labor, despite of its advantages. Objective: To determine the effect of heat therapy on intensity of labor pains among primigravida mothers. Design: An quasi experimental study Setting: Clean Labor Room of Nehru Hospital, Postgraduate Institute of Medical Education and Research. Participants: Sixty study subjects were purposively selected from the Clean Labor room, PGIMER, Chandigarh and divided into experimental and control group. Methods: The experimental group received heat therapy over lower back during the active phase of labor and the control group received the routine care. Data first collected from the experimental group followed by the control group. Pre and post intervention pain scores were assessed with the modified visual analogue scale. Results: The results of the study revealed that the mothers in the experimental group had statistically significant lower mean score of labor pain than the control group (p<0.05). Conclusion: Heat therapy is one of the effective methods for labor pain management.

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DOI: https://doi.org/10.37628/jopnn.v2i2.209

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