Study design and eligibility criteria
Tele-midwifery, fetus abnormalities
PLACENTAL ABRUPTION, CHRONIC DISEASES, PREECLAMPSIA
We conducted a Randomized Clinical Trial (RCT) to evaluate the effectiveness of using an mHealth application called Tele-midwifery to reduce FOC, increase childbirth self-efficacy, and reduce the number of CS among primiparous women. The research setting was the perinatal clinic of Baharlou Hospital in Tehran, Iran, and enrollment took place from February to April 2020.Inclusion criteria in this study were: being primiparous, having FOC (confirmed by the score of 38 and above on the Wijma delivery expectancy/experience questionnaire (W-DEQ)), being between 18 to 40 years of age, pregnant with a singleton fetus, 26–29 weeks of pregnancy, having access to a smart device such as a smartphone, or a tablet (women or their spouses), as well as the ability to work with them, having access to the Internet, not having chronic diseases and CS indications before or during pregnancy. The exclusion criteria were, emergency pregnancy conditions that required intervention (e.g., severe symptoms of COVID-19, placental abruption, fetus abnormalities, preeclampsia).