FEAR OF BIRTH, PRENATAL ATTACHMENT AND PRENATAL BREASTFEEDING SELF-EFFICACY IN HIGH-RISK PREGNANT WOMEN

Background
Although pregnancy is a physiologic phenomenon, some conditions may endanger maternal or fetal health and thereby, turn pregnancy into a high-risk pregnancy (HRP) and cause women experience stressful conditions. The aim of the study was to examine the relationship between fear of childbirth, prenatal attachment, and prenatal breastfeeding self-efficacy in women diagnosed with high-risk pregnancy.

Material and methods
The study was conducted with 262 pregnant women who applied to the high-risk pregnancy follow-up policlinic, had a gestational age of 20 weeks or more, agreed to participate in the study, and met the inclusion criteria. The Mann-Whitney U test and the independent sample t-test were applied in the study. Pearson correlation analysis was used to compare total scale score means.

Results
The mean age of 262 pregnant women who participated in the study was 30.22±6.01. There was no relationship between the Fear of Birth Scale and Prenatal Breastfeeding Self-Efficacy Scale (r=0.015), and a significant positive correlation (r=0.331) between the Prenatal Attachment Inventory and Prenatal Breast-Feeding Self-Efficacy scales.

Conclusions
At the end of the study, it was concluded that as the prenatal attachment levels of pregnant women increased, their prenatal breastfeeding self-efficacy also increased.