Objective: To examine whether the intensity of the labor pain has an effect on the development of the mother-infant interaction in Turkish mothers. Methodology: The research was carried out as a descriptive study in a university hospital with an obstetric and gynecology clinic in Erzurum, Turkey. Data were collected between October-December 2006. In this time interval, it was observed and 225 mothers were interviewed having an infant and meeting the research criteria in this obstetric and gynecology clinic. Results: The average scores of mother-infant interaction were statistically significant according to mothers? ages; p-value 0.005 (p0.05). The difference between starting period for breast-feeding and interaction scores was statistically significant; p-value 0.000 (p0.05), However, when labour pain intensity increased, interaction scores decreased. Conclusion: According to these results, it seems to be important that during antenatal examinations, training programmes about mother-infant interaction for mothers who are older, multigravid, and have lower education level should be implemented. It is also suggested that painless labour technics should be used.
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