The effect of haptonomy application on pregnancy adjustment and prenatal attachment of fathers: a randomized controlled trial

With haptonomy application, the pregnant woman and the father candidate, who touch the mother’s stomach, create a movement and vibration in the amniotic fluid with their hands and thus make the fetus feel the movement. As a result, haptonomy enables the start of sensory communication with the fetus.This research was conducted to evaluate the effect of prenatal haptonomy application on the adaptation of pregnant women to pregnancy and the prenatal attachment of fathers. A randomized controlled trial was conducted with 143 primiparous pregnant and their spouses and assigned to the intervention ( n = 71) and control ( n = 72) groups.The pregnant women and their spouses included in the intervention group were applied 5 sessions of haptonomy with 7-day intervals. After the haptonomy intervention, an improvement was observed in the pregnancy adaptation of pregnant women and prenatal attachment behaviors of fathers compared to the post-test value. A statistically significant difference was found between the groups. It was seen that following haptonomy application, pregnancy adaptation of the pregnant women and prenatal attachment of the father candidates in the intervention group increased.