Effect of Paternal-Fetal Attachment on Maternal-Mental Health: A Randomized Clinical Trial

Background and Maternal mental health has a major role in promoting the health of a mother and her family. Father’s involvement in pregnancy is one of the influential factors that promotes mental health in pregnant women. Therefore, this study aimed to determine the effect of paternal-fetal attachment on mothers’ mental health.
A clinical trial was conducted in 60 primipara mothers and eligible spouses attending two health centers affiliated with Mashhad University of Medical Sciences. Convenient sampling and random assignment was performed. Goldberg's General Health Questionnaire was administered. The fathers in intervention group attended three 120-minute sessions of Attachment training (group discussion) once a week. Then, the effect of these trainings on the mental health of their wives was assessed at three stages: before, immediately after, and three weeks later. Data was analyzed in SPSS V22 applying descriptive and inferential statistics.
Higher scores in mental health represents severity of the symptoms. In this study, the average mental health scores in intervention group at post-test (p=0.038) and follow-up (p=0.001) was significantly lower than those of the control group.
Paternal-fetal attachment therapy was found to be effective in increasing the mother's mental health and committed fathers were observed to have a major role in follow-up assessments.