Women's acute anxiety variations before and after epidural anesthesia for childbirth.

OBJECTIVE: This study assessed changes in anxiety during different phases of childbirth in a sample of women demanding epidural anesthesia. DESIGN: Prospective, longitudinal case series. SAMPLE: A total of 133 women who demanded epidural anesthesia for childbirth answered the questionnaires. METHODS: Anxiety state was measured using the State Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI) questionnaire. The STAI-S (anxiety state) was administered in three phases during childbirth: Phase 1 was before applying epidural anesthesia, Phase 2 was 45 min after the application of epidural anesthesia and Phase 3 was at less than 24 h after delivery. Data were collected in two general hospitals: a third-level public hospital and a well-recognized private hospital. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: STAI scores. RESULTS: Anxiety state decreases significantly after applying the epidural anesthesia (Phase 2) compared to before anesthesia (Phase 1), and it remains low levels 24 h after childbirth (Phase 3). There were statistically significant differences in STAI scores between the different phases administrated (Phases 1 and 2: p < 0.001; effect size, d = 1.40; Phases 1 and 3: p < 0.001; effect size, d = 1.39). In Phase 3, women with cesarean section birth had significant differences in STAI scores relative to those with spontaneous birth (p = 0.037; d = 0.44). The type of health-care setting (public or private), the educational level and the numbers of previous births does not affect the level of anxiety state in women in any of the three phases. CONCLUSIONS: Women's anxiety decreases significantly after applying epidural anesthesia, and it remains low 24 h after delivery. Anxiety against childbirth was not influenced by the health system used by women, by the condition of primiparous or multiparous, or by the educational level. Women who received an epidural anesthesia with a cesarean section reported higher rates of anxiety state after birth.

Influence of Cognitive Interferences and Self-Talk Functions on Performance During Competition in Elite Female Field Hockey Players.

Pérez-Encinas, C, Fernández-Campos, FJ, Rodas, G, and Barrios, C. Influence of cognitive interferences and self-talk functions on performance during competition in elite female field hockey players. J Strength Cond Res 30(12): 3339-3346, 2016-Cognitive interferences in the form of distracting thoughts and self-talk functions may play an important role in athletes' performance. The purpose of this study was to explore the types of interfering thoughts and the concomitant use of self-talk functions occurring in a sample of elite female field hockey players. The variation in these interferences in relation to athletes' performance level in competition was also investigated. Thirty-two female players of the first and the Under-21 National Team completed the Thought Occurrence Questionnaire for Sport and the Self-Talk Questionnaire after an international competition. The trainer rated the players' performance during competition in 3 different categories according to his expectancies based on the athletes' conditioning: Low (n = 6), Normal (n = 15), and High Performance (n = 11). Those players classified as low performing had increased the occurrence of irrelevant thoughts as compared with other groups. These athletes also showed the highest scores on the thoughts of escape subscale. Athletes with high performance during tournaments exhibited the lowest scores on all subscales, especially in thoughts of escape. The S-TQ subscales showed no differences among the 3 performance groups. Under-21 players had higher scores on the occurrence of performance worries and thoughts of escape subscales than first national team players. Interfering thoughts are common in female field hockey players during world-class competitions. The occurrence of irrelevant thoughts and thoughts of escape was related to players exhibiting low performance. The use of self-talk functions was relatively low in these athletes and could explain the enhanced occurrence of interfering thoughts.