Fear of Coronavirus, Stress and Fear of Childbirth in Polish Pregnant Women during the COVID-19 Pandemic

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic is the largest pandemic of an aggressive coronavirus in the human population in the 21st century. The pandemic may have a negative emotional impact on pregnant women, causing fear and stress. Negative feelings during pregnancy later affect fear of childbirth. Our study aimed to determine the relationship between fear of COVID-19, stress and fear of childbirth. We assume that fear of COVID-19 will be a mediator of the relationship between perceived stress and fear of childbirth. A total of 262 Polish pregnant women participated in this study. Perceived Stress Scale (PSS-10), Fear of COVID-19 Scale (FOC-6) and Labour Anxiety Questionnaire (KLP II) were used in the study. There was a statistically significant, moderate, and positive relationship between perceived stress, fear of COVID-19, and fear of childbirth. Fear of COVID-19 was a statistically significant mediator in the relationship between perceived stress and fear of childbirth. The COVID-19 epidemic may have a negative emotional impact on pregnant women, causing fear, stress and increased fear of childbirth. Childbirth during the COVID-19 pandemic is perceived by women as a threat to their well-being and health. Therefore, it is especially important to support a woman in the perinatal period and to enable her to give birth to a child.

The Effect of COVID-19 Fear in Patients and Clinical Nurses on Night Nursing Care

“…Studies were also conducted which, similar to this research, found that fear of COVID-19 was at a medium level in patients (Dymecka et al, 2021;Is ¸ıklı et al, 2022;Sahu et al, 2021;Sürme et al, 2021). It is noticeable that, according to the findings of this study and the literature results, the fear of COVID-19 continues to be at a medium level among patients.…”

The COVID-19 Pandemic and Levels of Physical Activity in the Last Trimester, Life Satisfaction and Perceived Stress in Late Pregnancy and in the Early Puerperium

“…Stepowicz et al [ 25 ] showed that levels of stress and anxiety in pregnant or postpartum women during the pandemic were moderate to high. In other studies conducted in Poland during the pandemic, a moderate and positive relationship among women was observed between perceived stress, fear of COVID-19 and fear of childbirth [ 24 ]. Ilska et al [ 26 ] noted that during the second wave of the pandemic, almost 38.5% of pregnant women reported high preparedness stress and 26% reported high perinatal infection stress.…”

“…Cronbach’s alpha reliability index for the PSS-10 is 0.86 (Polish version) [ 38 , 39 ]. The PSS-10 scale can be used to assess the perceived stress in women during the perinatal period [ 8 , 24 , 25 ].…”

“…In our study, we compared the psychophysical condition of women who gave birth during different periods of the pandemic (December 2019–March 2020, May–September 2020, June–September 2021). To our knowledge, there are currently no publications assessing the psychophysical condition of women who gave birth in Poland during three different periods of the pandemic [ 24 , 25 , 26 , 27 ].…”

Individual Characteristics and Pain Sensitivity during Pregnancy—A Cross-Sectional Study in Pregnant and Non-Pregnant Women

“…The significantly higher level of fear of COVID-19 in pregnant women compared with non-pregnant women is likely the result of the health and economic complications affecting pregnant women during the pandemic outbreak, as well as uncertainty about the effects of COVID-19 on the fetus. Research shows that pregnant women fear both continuing the pregnancy and endangering their own lives and the need to terminate the pregnancy as a result of infection because they believe they are more likely to develop a severe course of infection and that the infection could be transmitted to their unborn child [ 56 ]. Negative feelings and emotions can influence pain perception and increase pain perception [ 57 ].…”