The effect of positive birth story videos on women’s fear of birth, childbirth self- efficacy and birth preference: A randomized controlled study

Fear of childbirth is a common concern among primiparous women and may negatively affect their confidence and birth preferences. This randomized controlled trial examined the effects of positive birth story videos on childbirth fear, self-efficacy, and birth beliefs. A total of 120 primiparous women between 24 and 28 weeks of gestation were randomly assigned to an intervention group (n = 60), which attended four weekly digital storytelling workshops featuring positive birth videos, or a control group (n = 60), which received routine antenatal education. Measures were taken at baseline, four weeks post-intervention, and within 24 hours postpartum. At baseline, both groups had similar scores in fear of childbirth, childbirth self-efficacy, and birth beliefs (p > .05). After the intervention, the intervention group had significantly lower mean scores for fear of childbirth (18.17 ± 3.51) compared to the control group (55.12 ± 7.23). Their beliefs in a medicalized birth process were also lower (22.12 ± 4.19 vs. 24.87 ± 2.91), while childbirth self-efficacy (288.77 ± 13.49 vs. 248.13 ± 15.30) and beliefs in a natural birth process (24.73 ± 3.46 vs. 18.27 ± 2.73) were significantly higher (p < .001 for all). These findings suggest that integrating digital storytelling with positive birth narratives into antenatal education may effectively reduce fear of childbirth and enhance women's self-efficacy and preference for physiological birth.