Obstetric violence as a risk factor for maternal-infant bonding and attachment: a systematic review

Introduction: Obstetric violence is recognized as those practices that entail psychological or physical harm or damage to women in the period of pregnancy, childbirth or the puerperium (e.g. episiotomy, degrading language, etc.). This type of violence is very common and
constitutes a great problem for women, their children and some of the professionals who care for them. Therefore, this article aims to
review the available evidence on exposure to obstetric violence and its relationship with the construction of the mother-child bond and
attachment.

Methods: A review of the last 10 years has been carried out in the scientific literature based on the relationship between obstetric violence, mother-child bond and attachment. For this, five databases were used (Dialnet, Psicodoc, Psycinfo, PubMed and Scielo) and 11 articles were selected from the 483 results.

Results: The studies reviewed indicate that procedures involving obstetric violence have an impact on the maternal-fetal bond, as well as on the future maternal-infant bond and attachment, causing frequent problems in the mother such as suffering, stress, or depressive symptoms, and favouring difficulties in the development of the minor such as changes in behavior.

Discussion: The literature reviewed has shown that obstetric violence may have a negative impact on both the mother and the child, constituting a risk factor for the mother-child bond and attachment. These results show the need for greater awareness and training of health personnel in this regard, in order to reduce the incidence of this type of violence.