Maternal-fetal attachment and interrelated factors in pregnant women assisted in Primary Health Care.
Cássio de Almeida Lima, Maria Fernanda Santos Figueiredo Brito, Lucineia de Pinho and 3 others
PMID 39476144WHAT IT FOUND
In pregnant women attending primary care, attachment scores were usually moderate.
Later pregnancy, more social support and better family functioning were linked to stronger attachment; crowding and depressive symptoms were linked to weaker attachment.
Key findings
01The mean maternal-fetal attachment score was 92.6 on a 24-120 scale, and 575 women (61.4%) were classified as having medium attachment.
02The adjusted model showed positive associations of gestational weeks, social support and family functionality with attachment, negative associations of household crowding and depressive symptoms with attachment, and no evidence of a relationship for perceived stress.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for RNs
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What it does not show
The study is cross-sectional, so it cannot show that any factor causes changes in maternal-fetal attachment. The analysis included 937 pregnant women from a baseline group of 1,279, so it does not represent all women in the larger study. Only women in the second or third trimester were analyzed, and twin pregnancies and diagnosed cognitive impairment were excluded. It covered urban family health teams only, so rural pregnant women were not included. Data were self-reported, so social acceptability and memory bias are possible. Perceived stress did not show evidence of a relationship with attachment in this model. The study did not examine religion, lifestyle and some socioeconomic variables.
Declared interests
No funding or conflict-of-interest declaration appears in the supplied text.
The easy way to misread this
Do not conclude that assessing attachment or addressing these factors will improve maternal-infant outcomes, or that crowding and depressive symptoms cause weak attachment. This is a cross-sectional survey of self-reported associations.