ABSTRACT
To examine whether the intensity of the labor pain has an effect on the development of the mother-infant interaction in Turkish mothers. The research was carried out as a descriptive study in a university hospital with an obstetric and gynecology clinic in Erzurum, Turkey. Data were collected between October-December 2006. In this time interval, it was observed and 225 mothers were interviewed having an infant and meeting the research criteria in this obstetric and gynecology clinic. The average scores of mother-infant interaction were statistically significant according to mothers' ages; p-value 0.005 [p<0.05], education level; p-value 0.000 [p<0.001] and labor duration p-value is 0.017 [p<0.05]. Labor type didn't effect the mother-infant interaction; p-value 0.539 [p>0.05]. The difference between starting period for breast-feeding and interaction scores was statistically significant; p-value 0.000 [p<0.001]. Labor pain intensity didn't affect significantly mother-infant interaction; p-value 0.437 [p>0.05], However, when labour pain intensity increased, interaction scores decreased. According to these results, it seems to be important that during antenatal examinations, training programmes about mother-infant interaction for mothers who are older, multigravid, and have lower education level should be implemented. It is also suggested that painless labour technics should be used