Social support and mental health in maternity: Effects of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Alonso Titos Tania, Arias-Ramos Natalia, Valle-Barrio Verónica and 3 others
PMID 36584610WHAT IT FOUND
During the pandemic, mothers of babies under one year who had more people to talk to and more care and empathy reported lower risk of poor mental health.
Support gaps appeared around house help, invitations, and praise.
Key findings
01Mothers who reported more people to talk to and more care and empathy also reported lower self-perceived risk of poor mental health (rho −0.420 and −0.338).
0224.2% of mothers scored in the low range for social support, and the lowest-scoring support items included help around the house, invitations to go out, and praise at work.
03Only 11.8% reported professional help up to six months after delivery.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for RNs
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What it does not show
It was an online questionnaire using snowball sampling, so the mothers may not represent all mothers. The study measured perceptions at one time, so it cannot show that social support causes better mental health. Mothers with children under six months were excluded, so it says little about the earliest postpartum period. Most mothers were highly educated and living with a partner, so findings may not apply to mothers without those supports. Mental health was self-reported with a screening questionnaire, not a clinical diagnosis.
Declared interests
This work received no funding, and the authors declared no conflicts of interest.
The easy way to misread this
Do not conclude that increasing social support will improve maternal mental health. This was a cross-sectional survey of mothers' perceptions, so it shows an association, not a treatment effect.