Before the intervention, when their cervical dilatation is 4-5 cm, EC-1, EC-2 and EC-3 will be applied to pregnant women in all groups. After the initial data collection, the researcher TC will apply reiki for approximately 15-20 minutes to pregnant women in the reiki group with cervical dilatation of 4-5 cm. Immediately after the first intervention, the second EC-2 and EC-3 measurements will be performed. The third EC-2 and EC-3 measurements will be performed when the cervical dilatation is 6-7 cm and then the fourth EC-2 and EC-3 measurements will be performed after 15 minutes of reiki application. The fifth EC-2 and EC-3 measurements will be performed when the cervical dilatation is 8-9 cm, followed by 15 minutes of reiki and the sixth EC-2 and EC-3 measurements. The final data will be collected one hour after delivery of the placenta with the seventh VAS measurement and EK-4. The EC-4 will also be re-evaluated by the researchers online at the sixth postpartum week.

Pregnant women in the control group will receive routine midwifery care during labor. Both groups will not receive any non-pharmacologic intervention for pain management. All women will receive one-to-one support from midwives during labor.

Before the intervention, when their cervical dilatation is 4-5 cm, EC-1, EC-2 and EC-3 will be applied to pregnant women in all groups. After the initial data collection, the researcher TC will apply reiki for approximately 15-20 minutes to pregnant women in the reiki group with cervical dilatation of 4-5 cm. Immediately after the first intervention, the second EC-2 and EC-3 measurements will be performed. The third EC-2 and EC-3 measurements will be performed when the cervical dilatation is 6-7 cm and then the fourth EC-2 and EC-3 measurements will be performed after 15 minutes of reiki application. The fifth EC-2 and EC-3 measurements will be performed when the cervical dilatation is 8-9 cm, followed by 15 minutes of reiki and the sixth EC-2 and EC-3 measurements. The final data will be collected one hour after delivery of the placenta with a seventh VAS measurement and administration of the EC-4. The EC-4 will also be reassessed by the researchers online at six weeks postpartum

reduction of labor pain Visual Analog Scale (VAS) (Annex-2): Visual Analog Scale (VAS) is a scale developed by Price et al. in 1983 and used to measure pain intensity and for pain monitoring. The VAS is 10 cm long and the two ends are named differently. On the scale, '0' indicates no pain and '10' indicates the most severe level of pain. VAS is a measurement tool that is frequently and reliably used to assess labor pain (Price et al., 1983; Mutlu & Özkaya, 2021). VAS measurement data will be used to test hypothesis H1. After the primiparous pregnant women included in the study were assigned to the reiki intervention and control groups, the scale will be applied to measure the pretest data when the cervical opening was 4-5 cm before any intervention was applied and to ensure pain equivalence in the groups.

reducing the fear of childbirth Birth Fear Scale (ANNEX-3): The scale was developed by Wijma (2002), and its Turkish validity and reliability was conducted by Serçekuş et al. This scale is designed to assess fear during labor and consists of 10 items. The administration time varies between 30-90 seconds. Participants are asked to give each item a score between 1 (completely disagree) and 10 (completely agree). The minimum score is 10 and the maximum score is 100; a high score indicates a high level of fear. It is very practical to administer. The scale consists of 5 positive (1, 3, 5, 7, 10) and 5 negative (2, 4, 6, 8, 9) items. Positive items are reverse scored. After the primiparous pregnant women included in the study were assigned to the reiki treatment and control groups, EK-2 will be applied during the birth process follow-up. The scale will not be applied in the 1st hour after delivery.