Effect of the fetal movement count on maternal-fetal attachment

Abstract

Aim This study aimed to determine the effect of fetal movement counting on maternal-fetal attachment. Methods This study was a randomized controlled trial, conducted with experimental and control groups, each including 55 pregnant women from six family health centers in the Malatya Province, located in the east of Turkey. The data were collected by using a Personal Information Form and the Maternal Antenatal Attachment Scale. Training for fetal movement counting was provided to the experimental group. The pre- and posttraining maternal-fetal attachment levels of the experimental group (fetal movements that were regularly counted for 4 weeks) and the control group (continual routine monitoring) were compared. Results In the pretraining pretest, no difference was found between the maternal-fetal attachment scores of the experimental and the control groups, whereas the maternal-fetal attachment score of the experimental group was found to be higher than that of the control group in the post-test that was applied 4 weeks later. Conclusion This research indicated that fetal movement counting positively affected maternal-fetal attachment.

C1 [Guney, Esra; Ucar, Tuba] Inonu Univ, Dept Midwifery, Malatya, Turkey.