During the past decade, obstetrical and prenatal management have been influenced by the use of a diagnostic tool, ultrasound examination. One aspect of prenatal care relies heavily upon the ultrasonogram, an image obtained from ultrasound examination. This technological development facilitates early detection of potential obstetrical problems with little known risks to the unborn fetus or mother (Hobbs et al., 1979). In turn, this technology reveals to expectant mothers a video image of their unborn: a look into one's own uterus. While the diagnostic benefits of ultrasound in obstetrics have been documented (Campbell, 1976, 1980), scant research addresses the psychological implications of this technology upon expectant mothers.

This study investigates the effect of ultrasound imaging on maternal-fetal attachment. It is believed that visual exposure to ultrasound imaging increases maternal-fetal attachment. Thus, the null hypothesis tested is that visual exposure to ultrasound imaging has no effect on maternal-fetal attachment.

During a four month period, a quantitative research study was conducted on all clinic patients registered for obstetrical service at Booth Memorial Medical Center. Subjects were randomly selected during their prenatal visits. Women not in the third trimester of pregnancy were eliminated from the study. The control group comprised 51 pregnant women who were not visually exposed to ultrasound imaging during this pregnancy. The treatment group comprised 62 pregnant women who were visually exposed to ultrasound imaging.

The instrument used to measure the construct of maternal-fetal attachment was the Maternal-Fetal Attachment Scale (Cranley, 1981), a 24 item scale with five subscales. The questionnaire was administered in both Spanish and English.

The two groups of women were statistically compared by using a one-sided level 0.01 hypothesis test for the difference between two means (Robbins and Ryzin, 1975). The null hypothesis was rejected with 99% confidence. Findings in this study suggests that visual exposure to ultrasound imaging does increase maternal-fetal attachment.