The role of mother’s prenatal compassion and psychological flexibility in postpartum mother-to-infant bonding [comunicação oral]

Abstract

The transition to motherhood encloses several challenges that can hinder women’s psychological well-being and impact mother-baby bonding. Therefore, it is important to investigate which maternal characteristics promote their bond to the infant, especially those that can be modified through targeted interventions. This work aims to examine whether mother’s prenatal compassion and psychological flexibility have an impact on mother-infant bond in the postpartum period. Participants are 298 pregnant women between 22 and 30 weeks of gestation and with a mean age of 32 years old (SD = 4.43). Women completed the Comprehensive Assessment of Acceptance and Commitment Therapy Processes and the Compassion Action and Engagement Scales during pregnancy, whereas mother-infant bonding was measured at 3-months postpartum via the Postpartum Bonding Questionnaire. Data collection of the postpartum assessment is ongoing. We expect that higher levels of mother’s prenatal compassion and psychological flexibility will predict better quality of mother-baby bonding. The study findings can inform future studies in designing and testing specific parental interventions to foster a positive and secure mother-infant bond in the postpartum period.