The Effect of Skin-to-Skin Contact of Mother and Neonate Immediately after Caesarean on Newborn Behavioral State

Volume 8 Issue 1 February - April 2018

Research Paper

The Effect of Skin-to-Skin Contact of Mother and Neonate Immediately after Caesarean on Newborn Behavioral State

Batool Pouraboli*, Masoud Rayyani**, Mahdieh Estabraghi***, Younes Jahani****

* Assistant Professor, Department of Pediatric and Neonatal Nursing, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.

** Assistant Professor, Department of Community Health, Kerman University of Medical Sciences, Kerman, Iran.

*** MSC in NICU, Nursing and Midwifery, University of Medical Sciences, Kerman, Iran.

**** Assistant Professor, Research Center for Social Determinant of Health, University of Medical Sciences, Kerman, Iran.

Pouraboli, B., Rayyani, M., Estabraghi, M., and Jahani, Y.T. (2018). The Effect of Skin-To-Skin Contact of Mother and Neonate Immediately After Caesarean on Newborn Behavioral State. i-manager’s Journal on Nursing, 8(1), 15-21. https://doi.org/10.26634/JNUR.8.1.14238

Abstract

The transition from intrauterine life to the real-world life is one of the most dynamic and most dangerous stages of human life. Separating the baby from the mother after birth, even in the short time can lead to adverse physical and psychological effects on the baby. The aim of this study was to determine the effect of skin-to-skin contact of mother and neonate immediately after cesarean section on neonatal behavioral state. This is a randomized controlled interventional study conducted on 80 pairs of mothers and newborns after cesarean in intervention and control groups. Neonatal behavioral state was recorded before and after skin contact using Anderson Behavioral State Scoring (ABSS) checklist and analyzed using SPSS version 22 and ANCOVA, Chi square, and Fisher tests. The results showed that there is a significant difference between the behavioral state scores of neonates after the intervention between the two groups (P = 0.001). The demographic variables of the newborn also had no significant effect on the behavioral state score (p value >0.05). Improving the behavioral state of the infant, which leads to reducing the anxiety of the baby, making better communication between the baby and the parents, and providing proper opportunities for nursing processes is one of the valuable and effective results of skin-to-skin contact of mother and child. Therefore, it is suggested that this contact be made for all babies as soon as possible after birth.