Effect of counselling on maternal-fetal attachment in unwanted pregnancy: a randomised controlled trial

Purpose: The present study aimed to determine the effect of group counselling on Maternal-Fetal Attachment (MFA) in mothers with unwanted pregnancy.Methods: This study was a randomised clinical trial. The participants were 80 mothers with unwanted pregnancy during 28-34 weeks of pregnancy who referred to health centres of Karaj to receive prenatal care in 2018. The women were randomly assigned into intervention (N = 40) and control groups (N = 40). The intervention group received four weekly group counselling sessions to promote MFA and the control group received routine care. Cranley's Maternal-Fetal Attachment Scale was used to assess the attachment of mother to fetus at baseline and two weeks after counselling. An ANCOVA test was performed to evaluate the effect of intervention and the number of parity.Results: There was no significant difference between the two groups in terms of general health scores and attachment of mother to fetus at baseline, but after the intervention, the mean scores of MFA in the intervention group had a significant difference with the control group (p < 0.001); the ANCOVA test indicated that attachment scores were significant in terms of intervention and pregnancy group and attachment scores indicated further increase in the primipara group compared to the multipara group (p = 0.041).Conclusion: Considering the effectiveness of group counselling in improving MFA in unplanned pregnancy, it can be used in prenatal care.