The Effect of Guided Imagery on the Third Stage of Labor: A Pilot Study

Objective: The purpose of this pilot study was to test the effects of guided imagery on blood loss during the third stage of labor. Design and setting: This was a three-group randomized controlled trial. Recruitment was conducted from a university nurse-midwifery practice. Subjects: Sixty (60) women between pregnancy weeks 36 and 38 participated. Interventions: The women were randomized into experimental, placebo, and control groups. Outcome measures: Intrauterine pressure catheters were used to measure uterine contraction frequency and intensity. Blood loss was measured. Analysis of variance was used to compare the three groups on continuous variables. Results: Complete data were collected on 41 subjects. No significant differences were found among the groups on demographic or potentially confounding variables. Conclusions: Blood loss was nominally lower in the experimental group, but conclusions cannot be drawn due to the sample size.