Mother-baby attachment during pregnancy and the postpartum period and anxiety levels of mothers

This descriptive prospective study was conducted to determine mother-baby attachment during pregnancy and the postpartum period and the anxiety levels of mothers. The population of the study included pregnant women registered at a Family Health Center in Düzce. The study sample included 110 pregnant women who were in the 20th-36th weeks of pregnancy between January 2018 and February 2019, and who fit the study protocol. For pregnant women who were included in the study, scale administration was performed three times: before they gave birth and at the first week and the third month after they gave birth. Study data were obtained using an Introductory Identification Form (which included personal, professional, domestic, and gestational features of mothers), the Prenatal Attachment Inventory (PAI), the Mother-Baby Attachment Scale (MBAS), the Maternal Attachment Inventory (MAI), and the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory. The data were analyzed using frequency, mean, Pearson and Spearman correlation analyses, Student's t-test, one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA), and Tukey's Honestly Significant Difference tests. The results of the statistical analyses indicated that of the pregnant women, 33.6% (n: 37) were in the 25th-29th weeks of pregnancy, 40.0% (n: 44) were aged 26-30, 38.2% (n: 31) were university graduates, and 57.3% (n: 63) were unemployed. A medium-level positive significant correlation was found between ante- and postpartum attachment inventories (r = 0.574; p < 0.001). The study found that the anxiety levels of pregnant women were the highest before birth; however, these levels decreased one week and three months after birth (p < 0.05). The study also found that participants' demographic features such as age, education level, employment status, monthly income level, smoking status, and their status of having sleep problems had effects on the mean scores of the Prenatal, the Mother-Baby, the Maternal Attachment, and the State-Trait Anxiety inventories (p < 0.05). Families should be followed up in terms of attachment with the baby during pregnancy and the postpartum period by professionals in the field of social mental health. Preventive mental health nurses should be assigned in this field. Keywords: Mother-baby attachment, anxiety, preventive mental health nursing, pregnancy, postpartum period.