The Relationship between Perceptions of Birth Practices and Mother's Self-Confidence and Attachment in Primiparous Women: A Cross-Sectional Study

Objective: This study was conducted to examine the effect of perceptions of birth practices on maternal self-confidence and attachment in primiparous women who gave vaginal birth. Methods: The cross-sectional study was conducted between October and November 2023 with 480 mothers across Turkey who had primiparous, vaginal delivery and were in the first week of postpartum. The data of the study were obtained by snowball sampling method on the online platform with "Data Collection Form", "Labor Practices Perception Scale (LPSS)", "Karitane Parent Self-Confidence Scale (KPCSS)" and "Mother-Baby Bonding Scale (MBBS)". Results: It was observed that there was a statistically significant difference between the education and employment status, pregnancy planning, income level, and feeding style of the mothers participating in the study and the LPPS of labor. It was observed that there was a significant difference between pregnancy planning and MBBS total mean score. It was observed that there was a high negative correlation between the total score of the LPSS of the mothers and the mean of the total score of the KPCSS, Baby Care and Parental Role sub-dimension. It was observed that there was a high negative correlation between the total score of the LPSS and Practices sub-dimensions and the mean of the MBBS total score and a moderate positive correlation with the LPSS team sub-dimension (p<0.05). Conclusions: It was observed that as the negative perceptions of labor practices, interventions, and the team increased in the mothers participating in the study, their self-confidence in parenting role and baby care and mother-infant attachment decreased.