Postnatal Attachment and General Health in Easy, Preterm, and Difficult Delivery: A Comparative Study

Delivery or childbirth is one of mother's important life experiences, sometimes associated with problems. The present study aimed to compare postnatal attachment and general health in mothers who have had easy, preterm, and difficult labors.
The present study was conducted through descriptive-analytical method and was of causative-comparative type. The study population consisted of all mothers who had referred to state medical centers in Tabriz. Accordingly, 180 mothers were selected, using convenience sampling, and were asked to complete Maternal Postnatal Attachment Scale (MPAS) and General Health Questionnaire (GHQ). Cronbach's alpha reliability and test-retest validity were 0.69 and 0.86, respectively. Data were analyzed using the SPSS software and one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA).
Findings showed that there was a significant difference between the three groups of easy, preterm, and difficult labors in postnatal attachment (F=32.3, P Given the results of the present study, as well as previous studies, it can be concluded that having preterm and difficult deliveries have negative effect on mother-child relationship and mother’s mental and physical health.