Psychological predictors of cesarean delivery on maternal request in upper middle-income settings and the mitigating role of prenatal psychological education: a multicenter longitudinal study
Maternal psychological distress and fear of childbirth are significant contributors to the decision for cesarean delivery on maternal request among primiparous women. In an upper middle-income country context, prenatal psychological education may serve as an effective intervention to reduce childbirth fear and promote informed, evidence-based delivery decisions. Integrating routine mental health screening and targeted education into antenatal care could help curb the rising trend of unnecessary cesarean deliveries.
Authors
- Dongqiong Patty Luo
- Bing Huang (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5341-3808)
- Hongyan Ma (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0001-5169-8221)
- Tianjiao Liu (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8853-9742)
- Aijie Xie
- Yanhong Li
- Lan Huang
- Lu Zhang
- Juan Li
- Xin Li
Institutions
- University of Electronic Science and Technology of China (CN)
- Chengdu Women's and Children's Central Hospital (CN)
- Chongqing Maternal and Child Health Hospital (CN)
- Living Independently Now Center (US)
- Maternal and Child Health Hospital of Sichuan Province (CN)
- Children's Hospital of Chongqing Medical University (CN)
- Chongqing Medical University (CN)
Publication Details
- Journal
- Frontiers in Medicine
- Published
- 2026-01-06
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.3389/fmed.2025.1683360
- Primary Topic
- Maternal and Perinatal Health Interventions
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 0.00