The pain or intensity of childbirth is not so easily measured by a variety of faces in varied degrees of smiles and frowns. When women are offered support and help using coping techniques such as breathing, showers, music, massage, position changes and many more, then these decrease the intensity of labor and allow women to cope better.
The question should be for any woman in labor not where is she on the pain scale, but how can she be helped to cope. So many times women in labor, in particular at a hospital, may not be encouraged to use coping techniques such as sitting on a birth ball. Research shows that the more support given to a laboring woman the better she is able to cope during labor i.e. doula care.
Below you will find a new assessment tool, The Labor Coping Scale by Childbirth Professionals International. This tool may be downloaded and used with attribution. We use this tool in our workshop Labor Support Skills for Nurses to teach professionals how to assess and assist laboring patients.
The Labor Coping Scale assesses five essential things:
- State of Coping
- Human Assistance
- Emotional State
- Labor Tools
- Position Changes
The back of the tool charts how many labor tools and position changes have been used throughout labor. The tool is a visual aid so that nurses and other health care providers can practically see that the more assistance offered then the higher coping level will be obtained on the scale.
Measuring pain during labor is not as useful as assessing coping and then implementing coping techniques. Women deserve to be pampered through childbirth as if they were in a spa, what a difference that would make.
To learn more about how to implement the Labor Coping Scale Email Us
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