Abstract
IntroductionConsidering the important role of education in promoting parents’ attachment to the infant, temporal and spatial limitations, and the need to use new educational methods for spouses’ participation in childbirth preparation classes, the present study was conducted to compare the effect of in-person and virtual prenatal care education of the spouses of primiparous women on the father and mother’s attachment to the infant.MethodsThis is a quasi-experimental clinical trial that was conducted on primiparous pregnant women referring to three prenatal clinics in Tehran, Iran. Sampling was done by continuous method and pregnant women were divided into three groups of face-to-face education (n = 28), virtual education (n = 31), and control (n = 29). The content of the training program in the virtual and face-to-face groups was similar, which was presented in 4 sessions. At 18–20 weeks of gestation, demographic characteristics and pregnancy records were obtained from the samples, and 12 weeks after the delivery, maternal postnatal attachment scale, and postnatal paternal-infant attachment questionnaire were completed. Both intention-to-treat analysis and per-protocol analysis were performed.ResultsThere was a statistically significant difference between the two groups of in-person education and control, and also virtual education and control for both intention-to-treat and per-protocol analysis (p < 0.05). However, no statistically significant difference was found between the two groups of in-person and virtual education. Results showed a large and medium effect size between the two groups of in-person education and control, and virtual education and control in terms of father-infant attachment score, respectively. There was also no statistically significant difference between the three groups after the educational intervention in terms of the mother-infant attachment score for both intention-to-treat and per-protocol analysis.ConclusionConsidering that education by both in-person and virtual methods had the same effect on improving the score of father-infant attachment, it is suggested that to increase the participation of spouses of pregnant women in the process of prenatal care, the spouses of pregnant women should have the option of virtual education in addition to in-person training.Trial registrationTCTR.ir TCTR20200515011. Registered on May 12, 2020.
Highlights
Considering the important role of education in promoting parents’ attachment to the infant, temporal and spatial limitations, and the need to use new educational methods for spouses’ participation in childbirth preparation classes, the present study was conducted to compare the effect of in-person and virtual prenatal care education of the spouses of primiparous women on the father and mother’s attachment to the infant
Considering that education by both in-person and virtual methods had the same effect on improving the score of father-infant attachment, it is suggested that to increase the participation of spouses of pregnant women in the process of prenatal care, the spouses of pregnant women should have the option of virtual education in addition to in-person training
Regarding the second objective of this study, the results showed a statistically and clinically significant difference in the father-infant attachment scores of inperson and virtual groups after the allocated intervention compared to the control group
Summary
Considering the important role of education in promoting parents’ attachment to the infant, temporal and spatial limitations, and the need to use new educational methods for spouses’ participation in childbirth preparation classes, the present study was conducted to compare the effect of in-person and virtual prenatal care education of the spouses of primiparous women on the father and mother’s attachment to the infant. Parents have an emotional relationship with the fetus while they are waiting for their baby to be born [3]. The onset of this relationship occurs before birth [4] and increases with the sensation of fetal movements by the mother, reaching its peak after the birth [5]. Mothers who have a stronger and healthier attachment to their fetus during pregnancy interact better with their infants, which in turn can have a significant impact on the infant’s emotional, cognitive, and social development [7]. Mothers show a rapid increase in the attachment in the fifth month of pregnancy and have a special feeling during pregnancy, this feeling occurs in fathers more slowly and sharply increases after birth and during infant care [5]
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