Investigation of the Awareness of Expectant Mothers about Responsive Care

Çocuk Dergisi, cilt.25, sa.1, ss.16-25, 2025 (TRDizin)

Objective: This study was conducted to examine the awareness of expectant mothers in the last trimester of

pregnancy about responsive care.

Materials and Methods: The study group consisted of 16 expectant mothers who were referred to the Obstetrics and

Gynecology Department of a private hospital for NST (Nonstress Test). The data were collected using a demographic

information form and a semi-structured interview form. The data were analyzed using the content analysis method

by creating categories and subcategories based on similarities. The research data were analyzed in three subcate-

gories: "questions about parental emotion state", "questions about daily life routines", "questions about parent-child

relationship/interaction" and "questions about home environment".

Results: Twelve of the expectant mothers stated that their emotional states during the day would directly affect

the care they would give to their babies; 16 of them stated that their babies' reactions to the person with whom

they perform daily life routines such as sleeping, feeding, changing diapers and playing would differ; 6 of them

stated that their babies would express their needs with different crying sounds; 8 of them stated that they did not

expect the communication signals for their babies' needs to differ; 15 of them expected their babies to interact

during breastfeeding; 6 of them stated that there would be no change in their babies' communication and play in

the first year. Expectant mothers stated that they would pay attention to the light, temperature, sound, and number

of materials in the room where their babies would sleep and to cleanliness, sound, and crowding in the room where

they would feed. While all the expectant mothers thought that the emotional environment in their homes would

affect the healthy development of their babies, 7 of them thought that the physical conditions of their homes would

not be effective.

Conclusion: The result of the research reflects the expectations and thoughts of the expectant mothers in the study

group about the situations that will affect the level of responsive care they will give after birth. It was observed that

the knowledge of expectant mothers about responsive caregiving was generally superficial and that they could not

answer or gave limited answers to questions that included more details such as causes and effects.