The effect of listening to the recitation of Qur’an (Murottal Ar-Rahman surah) on the level of anxiety of pregnant women in Siti Fatimah maternal and child hospital

Objective: This study aimed to investigate the effect of listening to the recitation of Qur’an, specifically Ar-Rahman surah, on the level of anxiety and the time of the first stage of labor in pregnant women. Method: This study was a quasi-experiment using non-randomized pre- and post-test with con- trol design. The study was conducted in Siti Fatimah Maternal and Child Hospital, a public hospital in Makassar City, Indonesia. Total 40 samples were selected purposively, and they were divided into two groups, 20 respondents in the intervention group and 20 respondents in the control group. Chi-square test was performed for data analysis. Results: This study shows that there were significant changes in the level of anxiety after listening to Ar-Rahman surah (p < 0.001). Meanwhile, no changes in the level of anxiety in the control group (p = 0.50). The result of this study also showed that the score of anxiety, cortisol level and time of labor were significantly lower in the intervention group than in the control group (p < 0.001, p = 0.001, and p < 0.001, respectively). Conclusion: Listening to the recitation of Qur’an, especially Ar-Rahman surah, could reduce the anxiety burden of pregnant women in facing the labor process. This treatment may also give benefit to the cortisol level and reduced time for labor. A further study with a randomized controlled trial in a large-scale sample can robust the findings of this study.