Perinatal mental health and women's lived experience of the COVID-19 pandemic: A scoping review of the qualitative literature 2020-2021.
Ying Jin, Linda Murray
PMID 37167674WHAT IT FOUND
Women described pandemic maternity care as lonely and frightening.
Inconsistent information, reduced visitors and remote appointments made pregnancy, birth and early motherhood harder. Some valued more time with partners and online peer support.
Key findings
01Pregnant women described distress when trying to appraise information about COVID-19.
02Women described birth and postpartum care as lonelier and more distressing when partners could not attend and support after birth felt absent.
03Some women reported positive aspects of restrictions, including more time with partners at home and online peer support.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for RNs
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What it does not show
Only English-language peer-reviewed qualitative studies were included, so experiences outside that language pool may be missing. Original datasets were not accessed, so published themes may miss nuance about individual women's circumstances. The included research was mainly from high-income countries and used participants available during the pandemic, so women from low- and middle-income countries and marginalised groups are under-represented. The review describes experiences and cannot show whether any service adaptation caused or prevented perinatal distress. The paper does not state how many women participated in the included studies.
Declared interests
No funding sources or competing interests were declared.
The easy way to misread this
Do not read this as proof that visitor restrictions or telehealth caused perinatal mental distress. It describes women's experiences in qualitative studies, mostly from high-income countries, and cannot separate the pandemic, service changes and individual circumstances.