BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVE: Childbirth is a natural phenomenon and physiological and risky process done in two ways:  natural and caesarean. Since the majority of cesarean section reasons are the request of pregnant women and fear of labor pain of natural delivery, this study aimed to investigate the effect of relaxation on reducing the fear of childbirth and increasing natural delivery.

METHODS: This quasi-experimental study was done on 112 nulliparous pregnant women 37-20 weeks, with no particular problems in the two trained relaxation and untrained groups. One group received routine care and another group that participate optionally in relaxation classes received 8 sessions of 90-minute relaxation training. Data were collected and analyzed by using a standard questionnaire of childbirth fear, demographic information and pregnancy outcome.

FINDINGS: In the trained group the average of fear score decreased from 48.5±13.9 to 40.5±12.4 (p=0.000) and in the untrained group rose from 58.5±14.2 to 58.7±14.9. The mean difference of childbirth fear in first and second stages between trained group was 7.9±1.8 and untrained group was 0.9±0.2 (p=0.000). In relaxation group 28 cases (49.1%) and in untrained group 18 cases (32.7%) had natural delivery (p=0.033).

CONCLUSION: The results showed that the relaxation by reducing the fear of childbirth increases natural childbirth