Abstract:
This predictive study aimed to identify the effect of Maternal-Infant Attachment towards Growth
of Preterm Infants. Purposive sampling was used to recruit the sample, which included 67 dyads of mothers
and their preterm infants admitted to the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit of Princess of the Narathiwas
hospital, Narathiwas province. Research instruments consisted of the demographic questionnaire, the
Maternal-Infant Attachment questionnaire with its Cronbachs alpha coefficient of .93, and the record form
of the infant growth, including body weight and length. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics
and Pearsons correlation and Stepwise multiple regression analysis.
The results revealed that mean score of Mother-Infant Attachment was at moderate level of 3.13
(S.D. =0.279), and growth of the preterm infants, including mean score of body weight was 2,000 grams
(S.D. = 359.15), and mean score of body length was 43.13 centimetres (S.D. = 2.86). In addition, motherinfant
attachment was significantly positive relationship with body weight of preterm infants (r = 0.28, p <
.05) and Stepwise multiple regression analysis showed that 79 percent of the variance of the body weight
of preterm infants. However, there was no significant relationship and predictive Power between motherinfant
attachment and length of preterm infants (p > .05). These findings indicated that the higher the
Mother-Infant Attachment, the more increase body weight of the preterm infants. As a result, nurse could
use them as baseline information to plan an activity or an intervention program to promote maternal-infant
attachment as well as to increase preterm infants body weight.