COVID-19-related anxieties in first-time mothers during the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic and after 6 months: A descriptive study.
Ofir Ben-Yaakov, Orit Taubman-Ben-Ari
PMID 35184936WHAT IT FOUND
New mothers in Israel reported high anxiety about public transportation, public places, infant checkups and money early in the pandemic.
Six months later those worries were lower, but fear of catching COVID-19 was higher. Infant-health worries did not change.
Key findings
01In the same first-time mothers, anxiety about economic damage, public places, public transportation and infant checkups was significantly lower in the later phase than in the earlier phase, while anxiety about being infected was significantly higher.
02Quarantine or knowing someone infected was not associated with different COVID-19 anxiety scores in either phase.
03Anxiety about infant health and raising the infant did not change significantly between the two phases.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for RNs
Read the rest of this summary
You get three full summaries a month, free, and we do not ask for a card. Search, the TL;DRs and your library stay unlimited either way.
What it does not show
No pre-pandemic baseline was available, because both phases were conducted during the pandemic. The sample was a convenience sample of Israeli mothers and was not representative. Attrition was 57.8%; 469 completed phase 1 and 198 completed phase 2. The 8 anxiety items had no psychometric assessment reported. The study was exploratory, with no hypotheses set. Only mothers were included, not fathers. Results are self-reported and do not test whether any intervention reduced anxiety.
Declared interests
The authors reported no conflicts of interest and no funding.
The easy way to misread this
Do not conclude that the pandemic caused these changes or that guidance reduces anxiety. The study had no pre-pandemic comparison group, tested no intervention, and used a convenience sample with attrition from 469 to 198.