The effect of communication techniques training on fear of childbirth among primigravid women

Abstract

Abstract: Introduction: Episiotomy is one of the most common obstetric surgical procedures and causes severe pain and discomfort for pregnant women. Iran is a country rich in medicinal plants, and Iranians have commonly and widely used herbal medicines since ancient times. This study hence aimed to investigate the effects of ginger (Zingiber officinale) extract ointment on inflammation, pain, and healing of an episiotomy incision in order to improve the quality of midwifery care (with an emphasis on the rapid healing and pain relief at episiotomy site) in nulliparous women. Methodology: This triple-blind randomized clinical trial was conducted in a public hospital of Marand City, Iran, on 70 nulliparous women with mediolateral episiotomy incisions. Using block randomization, those who met the inclusion criteria were assigned to the two groups of ginger extract ointment and placebo ointment with 1:1 allocation ratio. The REEDA (redness, edema, ecchymosis, discharge, and approximation of the wound edges) scale and a Visual Analogue Scale (VAS) were employed to measure episiotomy healing and average pain intensity, respectively, before discharge from the hospital and 5±1 and 10±1 days after the intervention. The collected data were statistically analyzed using the chi-square test, the independent t-test, and the Mann-Whitney U test (if the data were not normally distributed) in SPSS-18. A 90% confidence level and a p-value ≤0.05 were used. .Findings: The results indicated that there was no statistically significant difference between the participants treated with ginger extract ointment and those treated with placebo ointment in episiotomy healing before the intervention (p=0.894), 5±1 days after the intervention (p=0.695), and 10±1 days after the intervention (p=0.986). There was no significant difference between the two groups in average pain intensity before the intervention (p=0.924), 5±1 days after the intervention (p=0.576), and 10±1 days after the intervention either (p=0.400). Conclusion: The study findings revealed that the 200 mg dose of ginger ointment could not significantly reduce episiotomy pain or improve episiotomy healing 5 and 10 days after the intervention. It seems that more and longer clinical studies with different doses of this ointment are needed before coming to a definitive conclusion about its effects. Keywords: Episiotomy, Wound Healing, Pain, Ginger