• Women's Health Nursing
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• v.7 no.1
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• pp.67-79
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• 2001

This study was designed to verify the effect of Doula-type-delivery nursing care on plasma $\beta$-endorphin, serum cortisol, related to delivery stress during labor, and postpartum anxiety of primipara by a quasi experiment(nonequivalent control group pretest-posttest design), from December, 1999 to August, 2000. The subjects of this experiment consisted of sixty eight primipara, with single gestation, full term, uncomplicated pregnancies, thirty three for the experimental group and thirty five for the control group. Their mean age was 26.1 years for the experimental group and 25.5 years for the control group. Their mean gestation period was 39.7 weeks for the experimental group and 40.1 weeks for the control group. As treatment, Doula-type-delivery nursing care was given for the experimental group. Data assessed plasma $\beta$-endorphin, serum cortisol during labor, and anxiety during postpartum. Plasma $\beta$-endorphin, serum cortisol were measured in the latent phase before treatment(pre-test) and the transition phase after treatment(posttest). Also, anxiety was measured in the latent phase before treatment(pre-test) and 24 hours postpartum after treatment(posttest). Data was analyzed by t-test, $x^2$-test, Repeated measures ANOVA with SAS Program. The results of this study were as follows; 1. Plasma $\beta$-endorphin was significantly elevated in the experimental group who were cared for with Doula-type-delivery nursing care during labor(P=.0463). 2. No significant group effects were found, but significant time effects were found for serum cortisol. 3. The postpartum anxiety of the experimental group was significantly lower than the control group(P=.0110). In conclusion, these findings indicate that Doula-type-delivery nursing care during labor could be effective in increasing maternal plasma $\beta$-endorphin and decreasing postpartum anxiety. Doula-type-delivery nursing care during labor could be applied as an effective nursing treatment for primipara.