Abstract

A survey of one thousand women having a vaginal delivery in an obstetric teaching hospital was conducted in order to ascertain maternal opinions of various methods of pain relief in labour. Women were questioned on the day following delivery as to their pain experience, the degree of analgesia obtained, their satisfaction with and criticisms of the analgesic method or methods used, and their overall satisfaction with their childbirth experience. More pain than expected was reported significantly more often by primiparous women (P less than 0.001) and those having induced or augmented labour (P less than 0.04). Epidural analgesia was significantly more effective and resulted in greater satisfaction than other methods alone, or when used in combination (P less than 0.0001). 'Inadequate analgesia' was also reported less frequently by women using non-pharmacological methods alone (P less than 0.0001). Dissatisfaction with their experience was reported by 5% of women and was most frequently related to inadequate pain relief. Although uncommonly cited as a reason, instrumental delivery was statistically associated with dissatisfaction (P less than 0.003). The incidence of dissatisfaction did not significantly differ with respect to the analgesic method or methods used.