100 conseutice laboring mother's attending the labor word of Sohag University Hospitals in spontaneous labor were recruited and randomly divided into two groups , 50 women each. Group 1 had a female relative continuously available besides her through out the course of labor to provide emotional, social and psychological support, in addition to routine service of the department according to it's local protocol and served as the study group. Group 2 was managed according to the protocol of the word alone and served as controls. The main outcome measures used were: The length of the active phase of labor, the request to different types of Anaesthesia, the route of delivery, Apgar score at 1 minute and the ability of the mother to start breast feeding within 60 minutes after delivery.
Results: Although mother's in the two groups were similar as regards their mean age, parity, mean cervical dilatation and education level, mother's in the study group had shorter active phase of labor (3.5+±1.5 versus 6.4±1.3, p<0.001), requested analgesia less frequently, (16% versus 40%, p<0.02), needed augmentation less frequently (6% versus 24%), p<0.01) and had significantly lower incidence of C.S.( 6% versus 14%, p<0.02). Babies of the social and emotional support group had significantly higher Apgar score at 1 minute (9.8±1.2 versus 9.3±1.1, p<0.05) and mother's of the study group could start breast feeding within an hour from delivery more frequently (80% versus 60%, p<0.04).