The effect of gestational diabetes on mother-infant attachment and postpartum depression

This research was conducted to determine the effect of gestational diabetes on mother-infant attachment and postpartum depression. The sample of the descriptive, group comparative and prospective study consisted of a total of 100 people, 50 with gestational diabetes and 50 healthy mothers, who were hospitalized in the Maternity Service of Balıkesir/Atatürk City Hospital. The research was carried out in two stages. In the first phase of the research, a Personal Information Form and Mother-Baby Attachment Scale (ABBÖ) were applied to women in the first 48 hours of postpartum. In the second phase of the research, the 8th week postpartum was administered via telephone (ABBÖ) and the Edinburgh Postpartum Depression Scale (EPDS). Data were analyzed with IBM SPSS 22. Descriptive statistical analyses, Independent Sample T test, Mann-Whitney U test, Kruskall Wallis, One-Way-ANOVA test, Wilcoxon Sign test, Chi-Square tests were used to evaluate the data. ABBÖ and EPDS score averages were examined with Spearman Correlation analysis. In the study, it was determined that the average age of healthy mothers was 26 and the average age of mothers with gestational diabetes was 31. It was found that most of the women in both groups had high school education or above, were married, did not work, and lived in a nuclear family. The average ABBÖ score of mothers with Gestational Diabetes was found to be 1.94 in the first 48th postpartum hour and 1.02 in the 8th postpartum week. While mothers with Gestational Diabetes had lower mother-infant attachment at the 48th postpartum hour than healthy mothers (p=0.020), the attachment level increased in both groups at the 8th postpartum week. The mean EPDS score of healthy mothers was 7.48, and the average EPDS score of mothers with gestational diabetes was 3.78 (p=0.002). It was found that the average age of mothers with Gestational Diabetes is higher than healthy mothers, they are more likely to have a caesarean section, and they cannot hold their babies and cannot feed them with breast milk. As a result, it was found that there was no difference in mother-infant attachment levels between the groups, attachment was good in both GDM and healthy mothers, attachment increased in GDM mothers at the 8th postpartum week, and GDM did not affect postpartum depression.