Table 1.
Characteristics of included studies
| Author, year | Study purpose | Type of study | Sample size | Tool | County | Results | STROBE checklist score |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Taheri et al. 2015 [29] | To investigate the causes of FOC in pregnant women in Shahrekord | Cross-sectional | 130 | FOC Questionnaire | Shahrekord | The main causes of FOC in pregnant women were fear of painful injections during labor, suturing in childbirth, labor pain, and loss of control during labor | 22 |
| Khorsandi et al. (2014) [30] | To investigate the causes and factors related to natural childbirth among pregnant women who attended prenatal care of Arak | Cross-sectional | 595 | Lowe Questionnaire | Arak | The most common causes of fear were possible harm to the baby, baby infirmity, and labor pain, respectively | 30 |
| Farajzad touli et al. (2018) [31] | To assess prevalence and causes of FOC in primiparous pregnant women | Cross-sectional | 181 | Harman Childbirth Attitude Questionnaire | Talesh | The most common cause of FOC was harm to the baby. Fear of baby infirmity and fear of labor was in the second and third ranks | 34 |
| Matinnia et al. (2015) [32] | To examine the content of maternal fear and the associated demographic factors in a sample of Iranian primigravidae | Cross-sectional | 342 | FOC Questionnaire | Hamedan |
The most frequent factor for all the respondents was 'fear related to the process of labor and childbirth' These factors were included labor pain, vaginal rupturing, being injured during childbirth, losing one's own life during childbirth, an unpredictable problem during childbirth, prolonged labor, and delivery, and ending up with emergency interventions |
22 |
| Andaroon et al. (2017) [33] | To determine the relationship between the intensity of FOC and choosing the type of childbirth in primiparous women | Cross-sectional | 220 | Wijma FOC Questionnaire | Mashhad | The most common cause of FOC was fear of labor pain | 28 |
| Negahban et al. (2009) [34] | To assess the relationship between fears from vaginal delivery with the occurrence of emergency cesarean in primiparous women | Cross-sectional | 243 | Structured Questionnaire | Rafsanjan | The most mentioned reasons for FOC were labor pain and harm to the baby, respectively | 24 |