Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Review
. 2025 Jun 22;17(6):e86540.
doi: 10.7759/cureus.86540. eCollection 2025 Jun.

Labour Pain: A Comprehensive Review of Perceptions, Experiences, and Sociocultural Influences on Pain and Its Management Practices

Archita Tandon  1   2 , Kanwal Gujral  3 , Vipin Gupta  1
Affiliations
Review

Labour Pain: A Comprehensive Review of Perceptions, Experiences, and Sociocultural Influences on Pain and Its Management Practices

Archita Tandon et al. Cureus. .

Abstract

Childbirth is a deeply personal and subjective experience for women, shaped by individual expectations and sociocultural perceptions. Many women approach labour with specific mental imagery and expectations regarding pain and the birthing process. However, these expectations often differ from the actual experience, which can result in emotional distress during and after childbirth. This scoping review systematically searched PubMed, Scopus, and Web of Science databases to identify studies published between 1984 and 2024 focusing on labour pain perception and experience. Only peer-reviewed articles in English were considered. This review identified three major themes that highlighted labour pain, pain management, and the sociocultural factors that were associated with it. It has revealed that the experience of women was consistent with what they had perceived about pain, while it was inconsistent in terms of perception of pain relief during labour. However, the sociocultural paradigm did hold its place in meddling between the perceptions and experiences of these women during labour pain and management. The exploration of personal attributes and sociocultural dynamics that shaped the women's ascription of meanings to labour pain add context to how a similar physiological experience can be perceived and experienced differently.

Keywords: experience; labour pain; pain management; perceptions; sociocultural factors.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

Conflicts of interest: In compliance with the ICMJE uniform disclosure form, all authors declare the following: Payment/services info: All authors have declared that no financial support was received from any organization for the submitted work. Financial relationships: All authors have declared that they have no financial relationships at present or within the previous three years with any organizations that might have an interest in the submitted work. Other relationships: All authors have declared that there are no other relationships or activities that could appear to have influenced the submitted work.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1. Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses Extension for Scoping Reviews (PRISMA-ScR) diagram of the included articles
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Correlation between subjective labour pain and uterine contractions: a clinical study. Corli O, Grossi E, Roma G, Battagliarin G. Pain. 1986;26:53–60. - PubMed
    1. The nature of labour pain. Lowe N. Am J Obstet Gynecol. 2002;186:0. - PubMed
    1. Women's experience of pain during childbirth. Lundgren I, Dahlberg K. Midwifery. 1998;14:105–110. - PubMed
    1. Severity of labour pain: influence of physical as well as psychologic variables. Melzack R, Kinch R, Dobkin P, Lebrun M, Taenzer P. https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC1875749/?page=1. Can Med Assoc J. 1984;130:579–584. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Analgesia in labour and fetal acid-base balance: a meta-analysis comparing epidural with systemic opioid analgesia. Reynolds F, Sharma SK, Seed PT. BJOG. 2002;1:1344–1353. - PubMed

LinkOut - more resources