The relationship between the timing of pregnancy discovery and prenatal attachment and distress: a case-control study.

Objective: This research was conducted to determine the relationship between the timing of pregnancy discovery and prenatal attachment and distress.

Methods: An analytical, case-control research design was used. The study was conducted between April 2023 and March 2024. The population of the study consisted of pregnant women who presented to a training and research hospital in the north of Turkey for antenatal follow-up, and the sample consisted of 152 women from this population (case group 76 and control group 76). Data were collected using a Pregnant Descriptive Information Form, the Prenatal Attachment Inventory, and the Prenatal Distress Scale-Revised Version. The chi-square test, Mann-Whitney U test, and Spearman correlation analysis were utilized to analyze the data.

Results: The prenatal attachment scores of participants who discovered their pregnancies late were significantly lower than the scores of those whose pregnancies were discovered early (p<0.05). The prenatal distress scores of participants whose pregnancies were discovered late were significantly higher than the scores of those with early discovery (p<0.05). While a statistically positive, low-level relationship was detected between the prenatal attachment and prenatal distress scores of pregnant women whose pregnancies were discovered early (p<0.05), there was no statistically significant relationship between the scores of those who discovered their pregnancies late (p>0.05).

Conclusion: There was a difference between the timing of pregnancy discovery and prenatal attachment and prenatal distress.