Evaluating the Effect of Hugging and Praying on Traumatic Birth Perception, Birth Pain, and Birth Anxiety

Pregnant women participating in our study will receive the intervention (hugging, praying, and hugging + praying) from the researcher or a relative as often as they wish during labor and contractions. These sessions will be administered during each stage of labor, taking into account when the pregnant woman is ready to begin the intervention.

Study Overview

• Status: Completed
• Conditions: The Effect of Hugging and Praying on Traumatic Birth Perception, Pain, and Anxiety
• Intervention / Treatment: Other: Hugging group,; Other: Prayer group; Other: Hugging and Praying group

Detailed Description

Pregnant women participating in our study will receive the intervention (hugging, praying, and hugging + praying) from the researcher or a relative as often as they wish during labor and contractions. These sessions will be administered during each stage of labor, taking into account when the pregnant woman is ready to begin the intervention.

For the hugging group, hugging sessions will be performed whenever the pregnant woman wants and during contractions, if she wishes, by a relative (husband, mother, sister, etc.) or midwife. The pregnant woman can be hugged for as long as she wants or for 5-10 minutes. For the prayer group, whenever the pregnant woman wishes, or during contractions if she wishes, a close relative (husband, mother, sister, etc.) or midwife will recite a prayer chosen by the pregnant woman, if she has one; if she does not have a preferred prayer, the first 5 verses of Surah Al-Inshiqaq will be recited:

In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful

1. When the sky is split asunder,
2. And obeys the command of its Lord,
3. When the earth is stretched out flat,
4. And casts forth what is within it,
5. And obeys the command of its Lord, every person will be confronted with what they have done! To be read together Before starting the first session, the "Information Form," "Visual Analog Scale," Traumatic Birth Perception Scale, and "Oxford Birth Anxiety Scale (Appendix 4)" will be administered. and at the end of the first, second, and fourth stages of birth, the "Visual Analog Scale," "Traumatic Birth Perception Scale," and "Oxford Birth Anxiety Scale" will be administered.

• Study Type: Interventional
• Enrollment (Actual): 164
• Phase: Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

Study Locations

• Turkey (Türkiye)
  • Ağrı
    • Ağrı, Ağrı, Turkey (Türkiye), 04100
      • Ağri İbrahim Çeçen Universty

Participation Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

• Ages Eligible for Study: Adult; Older Adult
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: No

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

• Age ≥18 years

  • No communication barriers
  • Applying to Ağrı Training and Research Hospital for normal delivery within the study dates
  • Volunteering to participate in the study
  • No contraindications for normal vaginal delivery (e.g., cephalopelvic disproportion)
  • Being at term (38-42 weeks)
  • No condition preventing praying and hugging

Exclusion Criteria:

• Refusal to participate in the study
• Maternal disease (heart disease, diabetes, etc.)
• Having a preterm or postterm pregnancy
• Undergoing an emergency cesarean section during follow-up
• Having a fetal malformation (anencephaly, Down syndrome, etc.)
• Not answering the questions in the questionnaire

Study Plan

How is the study designed?

Design Details

• Primary Purpose: Supportive Care
• Allocation: Randomized
• Interventional Model: Parallel Assignment
• Masking: None (Open Label)

Number of Arms

4

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm	Intervention / Treatment
Experimental: Group 1; Hugging	Other: Hugging group,; For the hugging group, hugging sessions will be provided whenever the pregnant woman desires and during contractions, if she wishes, by a close relative (husband, mother, sister, etc.) or midwife. The pregnant woman can be hugged for as long as she wants or for 5-10 minutes.
Experimental: Group 2; Praying	Other: Prayer group; For the prayer group, whenever the pregnant woman wishes, or during contractions if she wishes, a close relative (husband, mother, sister, etc.) or midwife will recite a prayer of the pregnant woman's choice, if she has one; if she does not have a preferred prayer, the first 5 verses of Surah Al-Inshiqaq will be recited: In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful; When the sky is split asunder,; And obeys the command of its Lord,; When the earth is stretched out flat,; And casts forth what is within it,; And obeys the command of its Lord, every person will be confronted with what they have done! To be recited together
Experimental: Group 3; Hugging and Praying	Other: Hugging and Praying group; The Hugging and Praying group will perform both hugging and praying together with the woman.
No Intervention: Group 4; CONTROL

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Information Form	This form, prepared by the researcher in line with the literature, inquires about the socio-demographic characteristics of the participants.	Before starting the first session average 8 months
Visual Analog Scale (VAS)	It is a one-dimensional scale that objectively assesses a pregnant woman's perception of pain. It allows some values that cannot be measured numerically to be converted into numerical values. In 1921, Hayes and Peterson argued that emotional levels could be expressed on lines. The VAS was first developed and used by Bond and Pilowsky in 1966. The VAS is a 100 mm (10 cm) ruler used to quantitatively determine pain intensity, with one end representing painlessness (0 = no pain) and the other end representing the most severe pain (10 = severe pain). The patient marks any point between the two points that corresponds to the severity of their pain. The distance between the end of the scale representing painlessness and the point marked by the patient is measured with a ruler and recorded in centimeters. This numerical value indicates the pregnant woman's pain intensity. 0 cm = No pain, 0.53 cm = Mild pain, 3.5-6.5 = Moderate (Ergin, 2013; Aslan, 2006; Mucuk, 2009).	average 8 months
Traumatic Birth Perception Scale	TThe Traumatic Birth Perception Scale (TBRS), developed by Yalnız et al. in 2016, is a thirteen-item, unidimensional Likert-type separation scale (Yalnız et al., 2016). Scores range from 0 to 10 for all items not requiring reverse scoring. The minimum scale score is 0 and the maximum is 130. The total scale score ranges from 0 to 26, indicating very low levels of perception of traumatic birth; 27 to 52, indicating low levels; 53 to 78, indicating moderate levels; 79 to 104, indicating high levels; and 105 to 130, indicating very high levels of perception of traumatic birth. The scale's Cronbach's alpha coefficient is .89 (Yalnız et al., 2016).	average 8 months

Collaborators and Investigators

• Sponsor: NURTEN ÖZÇALKAP
• Collaborators: Agri Ibrahim Cecen University
• Investigators: Principal Investigator: Nurten Özçalkap, Ağri İbrahim Çeçen Universty; Study Chair: SİBEL YÜCETÜRK, Asist. Prof., SİNOP UNIVERSTY; Study Director: AYŞE Çuvadar, Assot Prof., KARABUK UNIVERTY

Publications and helpful links

General Publications

• Redshaw M, Martin C, Rowe R, Hockley C. The Oxford Worries about Labour Scale: women's experience and measurement characteristics of a measure of maternal concern about labour and birth. Psychol Health Med. 2009 May;14(3):354-66. doi: 10.1080/13548500802707159.

Study record dates

Study Major Dates

• Study Start (Actual): April 1, 2025
• Primary Completion (Actual): July 30, 2025
• Study Completion (Actual): November 30, 2025

Study Registration Dates

• First Submitted: November 28, 2025
• First Submitted That Met QC Criteria: December 22, 2025
• First Posted (Actual): December 23, 2025

Study Record Updates

• Last Update Posted (Actual): April 22, 2026
• Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria: April 18, 2026
• Last Verified: December 1, 2025

More Information

Terms related to this study

• Keywords: trauma; pain; anxiety; birth; hugging; praying
• Additional Relevant MeSH Terms: Neurologic Manifestations; Mental Disorders; Pathological Conditions, Signs and Symptoms; Signs and Symptoms; Pain; Anxiety Disorders; Wounds and Injuries
• Other Study ID Numbers: 2025/38 (Other Identifier: HATAY MUSTAFA KEMAL UNIVERSITY)

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

• Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?: NO
• IPD Plan Description: we don't share individual participant data with other researchers

Drug and device information, study documents

• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product: No
• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product: No