The effect of in-person and virtual prenatal care education of the spouses of primiparous women on the father and mother’s attachment to infant: a quasi-experimental and controlled study

INTRODUCTION: Considering the important role of education in promoting parents’ attachment to the infant, temporal and spatial limitations, and the need to use new educational methods for spouses’ participation in childbirth preparation classes, the present study was conducted to compare the effect of in-person and virtual prenatal care education of the spouses of primiparous women on the father and mother’s attachment to the infant. METHODS: This is a quasi-experimental clinical trial that was conducted on primiparous pregnant women referring to three prenatal clinics in Tehran, Iran. Sampling was done by continuous method and pregnant women were divided into three groups of face-to-face education (n = 28), virtual education (n = 31), and control (n = 29). The content of the training program in the virtual and face-to-face groups was similar, which was presented in 4 sessions. At 18–20 weeks of gestation, demographic characteristics and pregnancy records were obtained from the samples, and 12 weeks after the delivery, maternal postnatal attachment scale, and postnatal paternal-infant attachment questionnaire were completed. Both intention-to-treat analysis and per-protocol analysis were performed. RESULTS: There was a statistically significant difference between the two groups of in-person education and control, and also virtual education and control for both intention-to-treat and per-protocol analysis (p < 0.05). However, no statistically significant difference was found between the two groups of in-person and virtual education. Results showed a large and medium effect size between the two groups of in-person education and control, and virtual education and control in terms of father-infant attachment score, respectively. There was also no statistically significant difference between the three groups after the educational intervention in terms of the mother-infant attachment score for both intention-to-treat and per-protocol analysis. CONCLUSION: Considering that education by both in-person and virtual methods had the same effect on improving the score of father-infant attachment, it is suggested that to increase the participation of spouses of pregnant women in the process of prenatal care, the spouses of pregnant women should have the option of virtual education in addition to in-person training. TRIAL REGISTRATION: TCTR.ir TCTR20200515011. Registered on May 12, 2020. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s13063-021-05559-0.