The Effects of Warm Showers Application in Birth on Birth Pain, Birth Satisfaction and Birth Results

January 16, 2026 updated by: Öznur Hayat Öktem, Gulhane School of Medicine

Midwife Öznur Hayat Öktem

The use of non-pharmacological methods in labor pain is very important in order to improve the birth process, increase comfort and provide relaxation. The role of midwives, acting as patient advocate is to maintain comfort throughout the birth process. In order to do this, she should know very well the non-pharmacological methods to be applied to the pregnant woman and choose the most appropriate one. Applying a warm shower, which is one of the non-pharmacological methods; the uterus Increases perfusion, makes labor painless felt, increases the release of oxytocin, and decreases the release of stress hormones.

In addition, while reducing the intervention rates, it improves birth and newborn outcomes and affects positively. Purpose of the research; labor pain of warm shower application, labor to evaluate the effect on satisfaction and birth outcomes.

Study Overview

Status

Completed

Conditions

Intervention / Treatment

Study Type

Interventional

Enrollment (Actual)

78

Phase

  • Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

This section provides the contact details for those conducting the study, and information on where this study is being conducted.

Study Locations

Participation Criteria

Researchers look for people who fit a certain description, called eligibility criteria. Some examples of these criteria are a person's general health condition or prior treatments.

Eligibility Criteria

Ages Eligible for Study

18 years to 35 years (Adult)

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

Yes

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

  • Between the ages of 18 and 35,
  • Having a singleton fetus between 37-42 weeks of gestation,
  • Planning a a spontaneous vaginal birth,
  • Having a cervical dilatation <5 cm.
  • Having a fetus weighing between 2500-4000 grams,

Exclusion Criteria:

  • Being short (<145cm),
  • Being obese (BMI >30),
  • Receiving pharmacological or non-pharmacological intervention for labor pain,
  • Having chronic diseases during pregnancy (gestational diabetes, hypertension, preeclampsia,
  • Undergoing operative vaginal delivery (forceps, vacuum),
  • Making an emergency cesarean decision,
  • Experiencing abnormal changes in fetal heart rates.

Study Plan

This section provides details of the study plan, including how the study is designed and what the study is measuring.

How is the study designed?

Design Details

  • Primary Purpose: Supportive Care
  • Allocation: Randomized
  • Interventional Model: Parallel Assignment
  • Masking: Single

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm
Intervention / Treatment
Experimental: Warm Showers Application
In the experimental group, a 20-minute warm shower (37 °C) will be administered when cervical dilation reaches at least 4 cm and again at 7 cm. The control group will receive standard care only. The hot shower will be applied to the sacral area, lower abdomen, and groin regions.
Behavioral: Warm Showers Application

In the experimental group, a 20-minute warm showers (37 °C) will be administered when cervical dilation reaches at least 4 cm and again at 7 cm. The control group will receive standard care only. The warm showers will be applied to the sacral area, lower abdomen, and groin regions.

Throughout the intervention, the researcher will accompany the pregnant women to ensure safety and proper implementation of the procedure.

Pain will be assessed using the VAS scale before the intervention and at 10 and 20 minutes after the intervention. The Birth Satisfaction Scale will be administered prior to discharge
No Intervention: Standard Intrapartum Care
No intervention will be provided to the control group. At the stages when cervical dilation reaches 4 cm and 7 cm, pain will be evaluated using the VAS at baseline, 10 and 20 minutes.

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Labor Pain
Time Frame: Baseline (Before the cervical dilation)
Visual analog scale:On a 10 cm (100 mm.) ruler, which is marked painlessness on one end and the most severe pain possible on the other, the patient expresses his or her own pain by drawing a line, pointing or pointing. The length of the distance from the point where there is no pain to the point marked by the patient is measured in centimeters and the numerical value found shows the severity of the patient's pain.
Baseline (Before the cervical dilation)
Labor pain
Time Frame: 10 minutes after the cervical dilation
Visual analog scale.On a 10 cm (100 mm.) ruler, which is marked painlessness on one end and the most severe pain possible on the other, the patient expresses his or her own pain by drawing a line, pointing or pointing. The length of the distance from the point where there is no pain to the point marked by the patient is measured in centimeters and the numerical value found shows the severity of the patient's pain.
10 minutes after the cervical dilation
Labor pain
Time Frame: 20 minutes after the cervical dilation
Visual analog scale.On a 10 cm (100 mm.) ruler, which is marked painlessness on one end and the most severe pain possible on the other, the patient expresses his or her own pain by drawing a line, pointing or pointing. The length of the distance from the point where there is no pain to the point marked by the patient is measured in centimeters and the numerical value found shows the severity of the patient's pain.
20 minutes after the cervical dilation

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Birth satisfaction
Time Frame: Pregnant women in both groups will be visited by the researcher in the postpartum service within the first 24 hours postpartum and BSC will be applied.
The birth satisfaction scale (BSS).The scale is likert type and is scored as Strongly agree:5, Agree:4, Undecided:3, Disagree:2, Strongly disagree:1. Items 4, 8, 12, 15, 16, 17, 19, 20, 21, 23, 25, 29 are scored in reverse on the scale. The original form of the scale consists of 30 items, and the score that can be obtained from the scale varies between 30-150 points. As the score obtained from the scale increases, the satisfaction with the birth increases.
Pregnant women in both groups will be visited by the researcher in the postpartum service within the first 24 hours postpartum and BSC will be applied.

Collaborators and Investigators

This is where you will find people and organizations involved with this study.

Sponsor

Gulhane School of Medicine

Study record dates

These dates track the progress of study record and summary results submissions to ClinicalTrials.gov. Study records and reported results are reviewed by the National Library of Medicine (NLM) to make sure they meet specific quality control standards before being posted on the public website.

Study Major Dates

Study Start (Actual)

January 1, 2022

Primary Completion (Actual)

January 15, 2023

Study Completion (Actual)

January 15, 2023

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

April 2, 2022

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

April 18, 2022

First Posted (Actual)

April 19, 2022

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (Actual)

January 21, 2026

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

January 16, 2026

Last Verified

January 1, 2026

More Information

Terms related to this study

Keywords

Additional Relevant MeSH Terms

Other Study ID Numbers

  • Hayat01
  • PhD midwifery (Registry Identifier: GulhaneSM)

Drug and device information, study documents

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product

No

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product

No

This information was retrieved directly from the website clinicaltrials.gov without any changes. If you have any requests to change, remove or update your study details, please contact register@clinicaltrials.gov. As soon as a change is implemented on clinicaltrials.gov, this will be updated automatically on our website as well.

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