Digital Prenatal Education to Reduce Fear of Childbirth in Term Pregnancy

Starting soon · Not applicable

Conditions studied: Fear of Childbirth, Tocophobia, Pregnancy Related Anxiety

In brief

Many pregnant women feel afraid of giving birth. This fear is common and can affect how a woman experiences labour, the type of birth she has, and how she feels afterwards. Antenatal education helps women prepare for birth, but not everyone can attend the classes offered at health centres. Work schedules, family duties or travel distance often get in the way. This study looks at whether an online education programme can help. The programme is a website that women can use at home, at any time, from a phone, tablet or computer. It explains how labour works, what pain relief and other options are available, how to prepare a birth plan, and how to manage difficult feelings. It also includes videos filmed in the hospital where the women will give birth, so the place feels familiar before they arrive. Women taking part will be pregnant with one baby, will have a pregnancy considered low risk, and will be at least 37 weeks pregnant when they start. Half of the women will be given access to the website, chosen at random, like tossing a coin. The other half will receive the usual antenatal care offered by their midwife and doctor. All women continue with their normal pregnancy care. Women will answer a questionnaire about their feelings towards birth when they join the study, and a second questionnaire in the first two weeks after their baby is born. The researchers will compare the answers of the two groups to see whether the website made a difference. Information about the birth will also be collected from the medical records. The study will take place in Gran Canaria, Spain, and will include 176 women. It is run by midwives as part of a specialist training programme and has no commercial funding.

Key facts

Study ID

NCT07743502

Run by

Sergio Mies Padilla

People needed

176

Starts

2026-10-01

Expected to finish

2027-01-30

Last updated by the study team

2026-08-04

Who can join

Age: 18 and older. Sex: female. Healthy volunteers: accepted.

You may qualify if…

• Aged 18 years or older
• Nulliparous or multiparous
• Singleton pregnancy
• Pregnancy classified as low obstetric risk according to current local protocols
• Antenatal care provided at primary or specialised care centres within the catchment area of the Complejo Hospitalario Universitario Insular Materno Infantil (CHUIMI)
• Access to an internet-connected electronic device (smartphone, tablet or computer) allowing use of the web-based educational platform
• Able to understand, read and write in Spanish
• Written informed consent
• Gestational age between 37+0 and 42+0 weeks at the time of definitive eligibility confirmation, baseline questionnaire completion and randomisation

You may not qualify if…

• Estimated date of delivery, calculated by first-trimester ultrasound, later than 31 January 2027
• Risk of preterm birth or medical indication for early termination of pregnancy at the time of recruitment
• Elective caesarean section scheduled at the time of recruitment
• Known major structural fetal anomaly requiring specialised obstetric or neonatal management
• Previous or current diagnosis of an anxiety disorder, depression or other relevant psychopathology that, in the judgement of the recruiting clinician, could interfere with study participation
• Concurrent participation in another structured intervention study specifically targeting fear of childbirth
• Planned relocation outside the CHUIMI catchment area before the estimated date of delivery, precluding postpartum data collection

Where it is running

• Complejo Hospitalario Universitario Insular Materno Infantil de Gran Canaria — Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, LAS Palmas, Spain

Full record on ClinicalTrials.gov

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