Efficacy of Maternal Fetal Attachment Techniques on Enhancing Mother's Attachment to the Fetus

Subject Areas : Clinical psychology

Saed Sajjadi Anari ¹ , Kianoush Zahrakar ² , Farshad Mohsenzadeh ³ , Mojgan Karamnia ⁴ , Mohsen Shokoohi Yekta ⁵ , Soraya Alavinezhad ⁶

1 - کارشناسی ارشد مشاوره خانواده
2 - استادیار دانشگاه خوارزمی
3 - استادیار دانشگاه خوارزمی
4 - متخصص زنان و زایمان عضو مرکز تحقیقات سلولی-مولکولی و سلول‌های بنیادی صارم
5 - دانشیار دانشگاه تهران
6 - کارشناسی ارشد مشاوره

Received: 2016-05-17 Accepted : 2016-05-17 Published : 2016-03-20

Keywords: attachment to the fetus, educating pregnant women, attachment strategies,

Abstract :

          The present study aimed to examine the efficacy of  Prenatal Attachment Techniques training  on mothers' attachment to the fetus. The sample consisted of 30 pregnant women who were referred to the Sarem Hospital in Tehran, Iran between April and May, 2014. Among the inclusion criteria was a gestational age of 6-9 months. Thirty participants were randomly assigned to either experimental or control group. The study design was a pretest-posttest control group. Data were collected using the Cranley Mother-Fetus Attachment Scale (1981). The experimental group receivedthe attachment skills in eight one hour sessions once a week. Data were analyzed using Multivariate Analysis of Covariance. The results indicated that prenatal attachment education program increased mother attachment to the fetus. Given the effectiveness of learning prenatal fetal attachment techniques on attachment of pregnant mothers to their fetuses, educating these techniques may lay the ground for improvement of maternal attachment