Comparison of prenatal attachment levels of low and high risk pregnancies

The study was conducted in a descriptive method in order to compare the prenatal attachment levels of low and high risk pregnant women. The sample size of the study, consists of a total of 330 pregnancies, 165 for the pregnant women in the high risk group and 165 for the pregnant women in the low risk group. Living in any province of Turkey, women with a pregnancy of 20 weeks or more were included in the study. Data was collected as an online survey with the Pregnant Descriptive Information Form and the Prenatal Attachment Inventory (PES) forms. Percentages, means, independent groups t test, Analysis of Variance and Pearson correlation analysis were used in the evaluation of the data. The mean age, gestational week and number of pregnancies of low-risk pregnants were 28.93±4.47, 27.59±5.04, 1.66±0.83, respectively. The mean age, gestational week and number of pregnancies of high-risk pregnants were 29.98±5.39, 28.81±3.75, 1.98±1.20, respectively. Prenatal Attachment Inventory (PEI) total score average of pregnant women was determined as 60.95±13.25 in low-risk pregnancies and 58.07±12.46 in high-risk pregnancies. The difference between the mean PEI scores of the low-risk and high-risk pregnant women was statistically significant (p<0.05). A statistically significant, negative and low-level correlation was found between the "number of pregnancies" and the total PPEO score of low-risk pregnancies (r=-0.146, p=0.062), and between the "pregnancy age" of high-risk pregnancies and the PEI scale score (respectively). r=-0.171, p=0.028; r=-0.269, p=0.000). As a result, in this study it was determined that there is a relationship between low-risk and high-risk pregnancy and prenatal attachment. The socio-demographic and obsetric characteristics of the pregnant affect prenatal attachment. To increase prenatal attachment midwives and nurses responsible for prenatal care have responsibilities in determining the risk level in pregnancy in the early period, providing individualized antenatal care according to the risk situation and providing education, consultancy and continuous support.