Résumé :
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A study of almost 900 pregnant women conducted in Ireland found that 37% had a ‘high fear’ of childbirth, while 5% had ‘severe fear’, known as tokophobia (O'Connell et al 2019b). Fear of childbirth exists on a continuum, varying from small worries and anxieties during pregnancy, to high fear, to severe or phobic fear with avoidance behaviours demonstrated (O'Connell et al 2019a, O'Connell et al 2019b). It is considered to be under the umbrella of anxiety disorders, but also exists as a separate psychological construct which, when debilitating, is referred to as tokophobia (Rondung et al 2016, Nath et al 2018). While globally, maternity care is safer now than ever before, the evidence from recent research suggests that fear of childbirth is increasing in prevalence (O'Connell et al 2017).
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