The Relationship of Mother's Spiritual Well-being and Forgiveness with Mother-to-infant Attachment in Women Referring to Maternity Hospital Affiliated to Shiraz University of Medical Sciences

Abstract

Background: The mental health of the mother has a great influence on the health of her fetus. Objective: The aim of this study was to investigate the relationship between the mother's spiritual well-being and forgiveness with maternal-fetal attachment (MFA). Methods: This is a descriptive-analytic cross-sectional study. A sample of 200 female participants was selected by applying a simple sampling method among the mothers hospitalized in 3 clinics during the period of 2017-2018. The Paloutzian and Ellison Spiritual Health and Pollard & Anderson Forgiveness Questionnaires were used toassess the correlation between the spiritual health and forgiveness of the mother with MFA. Results: The relationship between attachment parameters including sentimental and emotional behaviors (r = 0.365, p = 0.0001), near-proximity-keeping behaviors (r = 0.261, p = 0.002), care behaviors (r = 0.339, p = 0.0001), mother’s attention to baby (r = 0.19, p = 0.026), versus all attachment behaviors (r = 0.349, p = 0.0001) and high level of spiritual well-being was significant, whereas the relationship between the mother’s forgiveness score and all the attachment components was not meaningful. However, the high level of forgiveness score was significant with all of the attachment components (p<0.0001). Conclusion: There was a significant relationship between the mother’s mental health and forgiveness and the attachment versus its components. It is recommended that in order to reduce the stress level and promotion of MFA, training courses for spiritual programs and mechanisms for the creation of forgiveness should be scheduled in the pregnancy plans.