The Impact of Support Programs on Attachment of Mothers of Infants with Gastrointestinal Disorders: A Randomized Controlled Clinical Trial

Abstract

Abstract Introduction: The birth of a malformed infant and hospitalization in the intensive care unit will create different psychological effects in the mother and while increasing the level of anxiety will affect important psychological processes such as attachment. On the other hand, the implementation of support programs and providing the required information and training to mothers make them feel more in charge and have more power over their positions. Objective: Determining the effect of the support program on the attachment of mothers of infants with gastrointestinal abnormalities Method: This study is a randomized controlled clinical trial. Fifty mothers, who met the conditions of inclusion in the study, were randomly placed in two groups of intervention and control, and maternal attachment was examined using Koren test. In the intervention group, support program was conducted in two aspects: psychological support by clinical psychologist and caring by researcher, each in two sessions of 45 minutes. After obtaining the post-test from both groups, the data obtained were compared using the statistical test of comparing means and chi-square test. Results: Some demographic characteristics of mothers (such as level of education, age, occupation, the number of children, financial support resources and baby's gender) showed no significant differences in the two groups using the chi-square test. Comparing attachment changes in the two groups after the implementation of the support program showed that the rate of changes in the intervention group was more than the control group (P <0.05). Conclusion: This study showed that the implementation of the support program is effective in the attachment of mothers of infants with gastrointestinal abnormalities. Thus, creating and developing support programs by nurses to empower these mothers in taking care of infant and the efforts to promote attachment between mother and infant in hospitals seem essential.