The Influence of Anxiety and Dyadic Adjustment on Maternal–Fetal Attachment in High-Risk Pregnant Women

Abstract

This study attempted using a descriptive survey to elucidate the influence of anxiety and dyadic adjustment on maternal-fetal attachment in high-risk pregnant women. Methods: The data used in this study were collected from March 3 rd , 2015, to March 30 th , 2015, and the participants were 118 pregnant women including those undergoing prenatal tests and those admitted to a delivery room in the obstetrics outpatient center of 3 university hospitals located in B, D, and Y after diagnosis with high-risk pregnancy during 20-38 weeks of gestation. Collected data were analyzed using frequency, percentage, mean, standard deviation, t-test, ANOVA, Pearson's correlation, and stepwise regression analysis using the IBM SPSS 22.0 program. Results: The level of maternal-fetal attachment according to participants' general and obstetric characteristics showed significant differences in history of childbirth, prenatal tests, and planned pregnancy. The factors that influenced maternal-fetal attachment were history of childbirth, prenatal tests, anxiety, and dyadic adjustment. Lower anxiety and high dyadic adjustment of high-risk pregnant women led to a high maternal-fetal attachment. Among them, anxiety was the factor with the greatest impact, explaining 20.5%. Conclusion: This study presents the need for development and application of prenatal nursing intervention to enhance maternal-fetal attachment by lowering anxiety through prenatal care in high-risk pregnant women and improving dyadic adjustment.

Does family support mediate the effect of anxiety and depression on maternal-fetal attachment in high-risk pregnant women admitted to the maternal-fetal intensive care unit?

“…Other influencing factors were anxiety and family support. This result is similar to the findings of a previous study in high-risk pregnant women [2] that reported that anxiety and marital adaptation influenced maternal-fetal attachment. Another study of women who experienced miscarriage noted that spousal support was a factor associated with maternal-fetal attachment [12].…”

“…In this study, the average anxiety score was 43.57 out of a total of 80. This is higher than previously reported scores of 39.02 points in high-risk pregnancies [2] and 39.3 points in normal pregnancies [9] using the same tool. As state anxiety ranged from 21 to 79 points, reflecting significant variation among individuals, nursing interventions for pregnant women in the MFICU should carefully note differences in individual characteristics and the degree of anxiety.…”

“…The number of pregnant women who received hospitalization or outpatient care for high-risk pregnancies in Korea increased from 27,223 in 2009 to 142,565 in 2019, corresponding to approximately six-fold growth over 10 years [1]. High-risk pregnancies cause high-risk deliveries of high-risk newborn babies [2], and constitute a social problem that increases medical costs, reduces population health [3], and increases individual and national economic losses [4]. Against this background, the Korean government established a policy to support the establishment of maternal neonatal intensive care centers as a public health policy project.…”

“…Depressed pregnant women have less interest in the fetus and interact less with the fetus, making it challenging to form maternal-fetal attachment [9]. Previous studies of maternal-fetal attachment have shown that the higher anxiety and depression of hospitalized high-risk pregnant women negatively affect fetal attachment, whereas family support reduces these adverse effects [2,9,11].…”

Do taegyo practices, self-esteem, and social support affect maternal-fetal attachment in high-risk pregnant women? A cross-sectional survey

“…모아애착은 출산 전 모아관계의 출발점으로 임부와 태아가 정서적인 유대감을 가지는 행위이다[ 7 ]. 고위험 임부는 정상 임부에 비해 임신 기간 동안 태아와 자신의 안녕을 예측하기 힘든 상태이므로 걱정·불안과 같은 부정적인 정서를 더 많이 경험하게 되며[ 8 ], 이로 인해 모아애착 형성에 어려움을 겪는 것으로 나타났다[ 9 ]. 임신 중 모아애착의 형성은 출산 후 자녀와의 관계에 영향을 미치며[ 10 ], 모체의 모아애착이 낮은 경우 영아는 까다로운 성격을 가지는 경우가 많고, 수면과 적응 행동 발달에도 문제가 발생한다고 보고한 체계적 문헌고찰[ 11 ]을 고려하면 자녀의 심리적, 신체적인 발달에도 영향을 미치는 요소가 될 수 있으므로 그 중요성이 매우 높다.…”