Does prenatal ultrasound visualization affect the maternal-fetal attachment process?

This investigation compared prenatal maternal-fetal attachment scores of healthy women who viewed an ultrasound visualization of their fetus during their thirty-fourth to thirty-eighth week of pregnancy and those who did not. A secondary objective included the determination of whether the prenatal maternal-fetal attachment process was significantly different in healthy women whose fetal gender preferences were congruent with their fetal gender diagnoses and in healthy women whose fetal gender preferences were incongruent with their fetal gender diagnoses. Data were collected on a total of thirty subjects who were either obstetrical clients of one physician who routinely utilized ultrasonography during the thirty-fourth to thirty-eighth week of pregnancy or of another physician who did not. Both physicians were part of independent practices located in Portsmouth, Ohio.

Fifteen subjects comprised the experimental group who received an ultrasound, and fifteen subjects were in the control group. Both groups were pretested utilizing the Maternal-Fetal Attachment Scale (MFAS) developed by Mecca Cranley, Ph.D. (1981), and posttested during their next regularly scheduled obstetrical appointment. Also during the pretest interview, fetal preferences were documented on those subjects desiring to know fetal gender. These preferences were then compared for congruency or incongruency with the fetal gender diagnoses. Analyses of covariance were applied to the data to inspect differences between treatment versus control groups and congruent versus incongruent groups with respect to MFAS scores.

The results showed that ultrasound visualization did positively affect maternal-fetal attachment scores. However, the analysis revealed that women with congruency in their fetal gender preferences and diagnoses did not score significantly higher than women with incongruent preferences and diagnoses. Implications from this study included possible identification of early preventative measures for problems associated with maternal role-taking.