Concerns of women regarding pregnancy and childbirth during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Carolyn R Ahlers-Schmidt, Ashley M Hervey, Tara Neil and 2 others
PMID 33010997WHAT IT FOUND
Perinatal women in one high-risk community reported widespread concern, stress, and risk-reduction actions, while some changed birth plans, infant sleep practices, and social support.
Nurses can ask about these during maternity visits.
Key findings
0172 women reported increased stress, 57 reported increased anxious thoughts, and 54 reported changes in sleep patterns.
02All 114 participants reported changing behavior because of the pandemic, including 113 reporting frequent hand washing or sanitizer use and 113 reporting reduced time in places with more than 10 people.
0341 women were following or planning to follow safe sleep guidelines at the time of the survey, and increased unsafe infant-sleep practices were related to bedsharing.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for RNs
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What it does not show
Only 114 of 222 potential participants completed the survey, so results may not represent women who did not respond. Participants were from a single Midwest community and were enrolled in perinatal programs, so they may not reflect women not engaged in services. Self-report data may reflect social desirability response bias. The survey did not include time-frame-specific information, so breastfeeding and sleep practice data could not be compared with normally observed postpartum data. Some comparisons by distress and knowledge level violated statistical assumptions because of low response rates in some categories. Data were collected while cases of COVID-19 were increasing daily and stay-at-home orders were in effect, so responses may reflect a changing pandemic context.
Declared interests
Funded in part by the Kansas Department of Health and Environment’s Bureau of Family Health Maternal and Child Health Services Block Grant, funded by HRSA of HHS. The authors report no declarations of interest.
The easy way to misread this
Do not conclude that the pandemic caused these behavior changes or that nurse advice would prevent them. The women were asked to attribute changes to COVID-19, and this was a convenience survey without a tested intervention or outcome.