Background & Aims: Fears of childbirth during the Covid-19 crisis and disruption in safe maternal care may be exacerbated. The aim of this study was to assess the prevalence of fear of childbirth in the Covid-19 crisis and its predictors in pregnant women. Material & Methods: The cross-sectional study was done on 330 referred to pregnancy clinics affiliated to Babol University of Medical Sciences in the Covid-19 crisis, from May to November 2021. The Hartmann questionnaire was used to assess the fear of childbirth. The mean score of the Hartmann questionnaire, 28, was considered as the fear of childbirth. The studied variables were compared in two groups of women with fear and without fear of childbirth.Results: The age range of the pregnant women was 18-45 years. The mean score of fear of childbirth in women was 35.95 ± 9.44 in the range of 14-56. 82.7% of the women were in the group with fear of childbirth. In the final analysis with logistic regression model, only the tendency to delivery type remained as a significant factor in the model; in other words, the odds ratio of the tendency to vaginal delivery in women with fear of childbirth was about 73% lower than women without fear of childbirth (B = 0.273, PV = 0.015, CI = 0.096-0.774). Conclusion: Findings of the study indicate an increase in the frequency of fear of childbirth in the Covid-19 crisis. Also, the fear of childbirth was significantly related to the decrease in desire for natural childbirth. According to its negative effects on maternal and infant health, this issue should be considered by the health promotion policy-makers and health-care providers.
Background: Prevention and control of COVID-19 disease in pregnant women has become a major concern. Healthcare providers should be aware that restriction of the routine prenatal care may have adverse effects. A qualitative approach can be helpful in understanding the pregnant women's experience and perspective in crisis. The study was conducted to explain the pregnant women's experiences during COVID-19 disease crisis.Methods: The qualitative study was conducted with conventional content analysis. Pregnant women selected with purposive sampling from six urban health centers in Babol (North of Iran). The semi structured individual interviews were done by telephone from May 03 to June 10, 2020. The systematic thematic analysis was used to identify and organize themes into clusters and categories across interviews.Result: We recruited twelve pregnant women until data saturation. Three theme categories extracted from data analysis. The first was "unpleasant feelings during pregnancy", the pregnant women stated feelings in this crisis such as worry, fear, obsession, boredom, nervousness, discouragement, and the like, which led them to have no positive pregnancy experience. The second category was "adjusted lifestyle". They experienced changes in lifestyle with the aim of preventing COVID-19 disease. The third category was “safe pregnancy care”. The pregnant women, while paying attention to the importance of pregnancy care, were forced to limit, delay, or modify some cares in order to be safe. Conclusion: The pregnant women experienced unpleasant feelings in this crisis; therefore, they should receive the necessary consulting to maintain mental health. All pregnant women reported some changes in their lifestyle and pregnancy care in order to health considerations to prevent the disease. Regular training for all pregnant women is necessary to manage this important pregnancy period while maintaining the maternal and fetal health in crisis.
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