Abstract
BackgroundThe denial of pregnancy is the non-recognition of the state of the current pregnancy by a pregnant woman. It lasts for a few months or for the whole pregnancy, with generally few physical transformations. In this study, we will consider the denial of pregnancy as a late declaration of pregnancy (beyond 20 weeks of gestation) as well as a lack of objective perceptions of this pregnancy. The main objective of this study is to explore the relationship between pregnancy denial and the development of the infant (attachment pattern of the infant, early interactions of mother-infant dyads, and early development of the infant).MethodsThe design is a case-control prospective study, which will compare two groups of mother-infant dyads: a “case” group with maternal denials of pregnancy and a “control” group without denials of pregnancy. A total of 140 dyads (mother + infant) will be included in this study (70 cases and 70 controls) and followed for 18 months. The setting is a national recruitment setting with 10 centers distributed all over France. The follow-up of the “cases” and the “controls” will be identical and will occur over 5 visits. It will include measures of the infant attachment pattern, the quality of early mother-infant interaction and infant development.DiscussionThis study aims to examine the pathogenesis of pregnancy denial as well as its consequences on early infant development and early mother-infant interaction.Trial registrationClinical Trial Number: NCT02867579 on the date of 16 August 2016 (retrospectively registered).
Highlights
The denial of pregnancy is the non-recognition of the state of the current pregnancy by a pregnant woman
Definition of pregnancy denial Described in the 1970s [1, 2], pregnancy denial occurs as the unconsciousness of being pregnant for several months or throughout the entire period of pregnancy
Some authors consider that the threshold date is beyond the first trimester: 14 weeks of amenorrhea [4, 5], beyond 21 weeks of amenorrhea [6] or beyond 20 weeks of pregnancy [3]
Summary
Trials status This study has been retrospectively registered in the European registry (EudraCT 2011-A01498-33) and in clinicaltrials.gov (NCT02867579). The third visit (6 months after delivery) includes assessments of mother-infant interaction during a meal with the Coding Interaction Behavior system (CIB) [31, 32], of the child’s temperament with a questionnaire on the 6-month-old infant’s temperament (QT6) [33, 34], of maternal depression (EPDS) [27] of child development using the Denver Developmental Screening Test [35] and of the relational retreat behavior of the child with the Alarm Distress Baby (ADBB) Scale [36] and the semi-structured interview for personality disorders (IPDE) [29]. All analysis will be performed using SAS version 9.4 (SAS Inc., Cary, NC, USA)
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