Antenatal mind-mindedness and its relationship to maternal-fetal attachment in pregnant women

Abstract

In this study, researchers aimed to investigate whether a relationship exists between maternal-fetal attachment (MFA) and antenatal mind-mindedness in a sample of Australian pregnant women (n = 43). Participants completed the Maternal Fetal Attachment Scale (MFAS) in their second and third trimester, and a modified ‘describe your baby’ interview with the inclusion of general prompts as a measure of antenatal mind-mindedness in their third trimester. Positive correlations were observed between mental comments, but not total predictions, made by women during the modified antenatal mind-mindedness task and MFAS scores at the second and third trimesters. An average of 6.07 total predictions and 1.30 mental predictions were made before prompts, increasing to 17.65 total comments and 6.58 mental comments after prompts. Prompts within the mind-mindedness task resulted in 42 participants making at least one mental prediction (M = 6.58). Our findings provide the first evidence for a relationship between MFA and antenatal mind-mindedness, and highlight the importance of considering mind-mindedness during pregnancy in the developing bond from mother to baby.

Acknowledgments

Thank you to the participating women and staff at Wollongong Hospital Antenatal Clinic for their support of this study. We also thank Dr Caitlin Miller and Dr Amy Bird for their statistical assistance.

Disclosure statement

There are no conflicts of interests to be declared, nor are any third-part materials being used within this manuscript.

Ethics approval statement

Ethical approval was obtained for this study from the University of Wollongong Health and Medical Human Research Committee and Wollongong Hospital Site Specific Ethics Committee. APA ethical standards were upheld throughout the conduct of this study.

Patient consent statement

All participants provided written consent to participate in this study.

Data availability statement

The data that support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.

Additional information

Funding

This project was conducted as part of a PhD at the University of Wollongong (NSW, Australia) that was funded through an Australian Government Research Training Program (RTP) Scholarship. No additional funding was received to support this study.