الفهرس 
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Abstract
Labor is an event with great psychological, social and emotional meaning for mother and her family. Although it is considered a physiological process, yet the agony and stress a woman suffers is beyond description. Likewise pain associated with labor has been described as one of the most intense forms of pain that may be experienced by women. Virtually, providing pain relief during labor reduces maternal stress and results in shorter labors and improved obstetric outcome.
The approaches for control of labor pain are different either pharmacological or non-pharmacological. The non-pharmacological methods satisfy all principles of pain relief during labor, where they constitute comfort strategies that are associated with shorter delivery times, without harmful repercussions for the mother and the fetus. These methods include, for example, acupuncture, acupressure, cold and heat applications as well as, aromatherapy and reflexotherapy.
Reflexotherapy is a non-invasive method of pain relief, which can be used at any stage of labor; however, its effects may be experienced within 15 minutes of treatment. Reflexotherapy is used to help stimulate the onset of labor, regulate uterine contractions as well as reduce the amount of pain and the length of labor. This study is an attempt to determine the effect of reflexotherapy on pain intensity during the first stage of labor.
A quasi experimental research design was used. It conducted at labor and delivery unit of El- Shatby Maternity University Hospital that is affiliated to Alexandria university, a purposive sample of 80 parturients, in latent phase of the first stage of labor, was selected and subdivided randomly into two equal groups of 40; the study group, who did receive reflexotherapy; and the control group, who did receive routine hospital care.
Three tools were used for data collection; Tool one, included maternal reproductive data interview schedule, which developed by the researcher; tool two, Visual Analog Scale (VAS), which was adapted to measure the intensity of labor pains and tool three, Present Behavioral Intensity (PBI) scale, which was adapted to measure the present manifestations of pain.
Collection of data covered a period of 6 months. The collected data was categorized, coded, computerized, tabulated and analyzed using Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS).