Examination of prenatal attachment styles, prenatal distress levels and quality of life relationships in primiparous pregnancies: An example of a private hospital

Attachment is a baby's effort to have physical intimacy to her mother to protect herself from all dangers that she can come across. Pregnancy is a period which has different phases such as the fast and crucial changes of pregnant's biological and phsyo-social mood and also this is a kind of phase that can cause anxiety and stress before the birth. The aim of this research was to investigate the relationship between the prenatal distress level, prenatal attachment and quality of life. 150 primiparous pregnant women who were in routine follow-up in a private hospital participated in the study. In order to gather information about themselves, participants were given the Pregnant Information Form, Prenatal Attachment Inventory, Prenatal Distress Questionnaire (Revised Version), Quality of life Questionnaire (SF-36). According to sociodemographic features, prenatal distress was significantly higher in pregnant women who were employed compared to those who were not employed and vitality scores of pregnant women who were not employed were higher than those who were working in a job. Compared to women with unwanted pregnancies, women with wanted pregnancies had significantly higher scores on Prenatal Attachment Inventory and perception of general health scores in Quality of Life Questionnaire. There was no significant correlation between prenatal attachment and prenatal distress levels. No significant correlation was found between prenatal attachment and any subscale of the Quality of Life Questionnaire. There was a significant negative correlation between prenatal distress and physical function, physical role, perception of general health, vitality and social function subscales of the Quality of Life Questionnaire. Implementation of prenatal and postnatal education, counseling and support programs could be considered and by taking into account, the short and long-term negative consequences of prenatal distress, special emphasis should be given to decreasing prenatal distress and increasing quality of life in these programs.