Mothers’ Effective Communication Training on the Duration of Mother-Child Relationship in Comprehensive Rural Health Centers

Background and Objectives: Paying attention to the mother-child relationship is of great importance. Thus, the present study aimed to determine the impact of mothers’ effective communication training on the duration of the mother-child relationships in infants. Materials and Methods: In this quasi-experimental study 250 mothers (125 in each group) with infants under one year of age participated by using stratified sampling method. Data were collected by a questionnaire before and 1.5 months after training. For the intervention group, the training program was presented in three sessions of 30 minutes per week. Data were using Independent t-test, Paired t-test, Chi-square, and regression analysis. Results: The time of hugging, playing, effective eye contact, and skin contact of most of the infants before the intervention was similar (P > 0.05); however, after the intervention, the number of hours of hugging, playing, effective eye contact, and skin contact of the infant was significantly increased in the intervention group in comparison to the control group (P < 0.05). Conclusions: This study shows that mothers’ communication training affects the duration of the mother-child relationship. It is recommended mothers be taught on the effective methods of communication in health centers.