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K Hesson

Publications and source records attributed to K Hesson.

3 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed1990

Perinatal predictors of pain and distress during labor.

We sought to determine whether women's attitudes and concerns, confidence in ability to control pain, and practice of pain-control techniques would predict pain and coping or distress-related thought during labor. During the third trimester of their pregnancies, 115 women completed the prenatal self-evaluation inventory and measures of confidence and practice of pain-control techniques. During the latent (less than or equal to 3 cm), active (4-7 cm), and transition (greater than or equal to 7 cm) phases of labor, interviews were conducted to assess levels of pain and the content of women's cognitive activity on a continuum that ranged from coping-related thought to distress-related thought. Women's confidence in their ability to use relaxation techniques and their reported practice of pain-control strategies did predict lower levels of pain and greater coping-related thought during latent labor, but failed to account for pain or coping-distress in active or transition phases of labor. High scores on the Prenatal Self-Evaluation Inventory fear of pain and helplessness scale predicted high levels of distress during latent labor. Two other scales, concern for self and baby and acceptance of pregnancy, were significant predictors of pain and distress in active and transitional labor. The results suggest that, with the shift from latent to active labor, women's fundamental concerns and anxieties become manifest, and may take precedence over the skills acquired through childbirth education in moderating experienced pain and distress.

Adult↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Variability in breathing patterns during latent labor. A pilot study.

This study examined the breathing patterns of a small sample of women (n = 21) during latent labor. The study also examined the different thoughts or cognitions the women experienced during their early contractions and assessed whether these cognitions, when classified as associative or dissociative in orientation, were related to breathing styles and length of labor. Respiration rate and tidal volume were monitored during and between contractions using a noninvasive plethysmograph system. The breathing results indicated considerable variation among women in individual respiration rate and tidal volume both between and during contractions. In addition, marked variability was found in both the direction and degree of change in breathing frequency and tidal volume in response to contractions. Women who relied predominantly on associative strategies during early labor had lower breathing rates and higher tidal volumes than did women who employed dissociative strategies.

Adult↗