Prof Yvonne Kuipers Y.Kuipers@napier.ac.uk
Professor
Psychological health of pregnant and postpartum women before and during the COVID-19 Pandemic
Kuipers, Yvonne J.; Bleijenbergh, Roxanne; Van den Branden, Laura; van Gils, Yannic; Rimaux, Sophie; Brosens, Charlotte; Claerbout, Astrid; Mestdagh, Eveline
Authors
Roxanne Bleijenbergh
Laura Van den Branden
Yannic van Gils
Sophie Rimaux
Charlotte Brosens
Astrid Claerbout
Eveline Mestdagh
Abstract
Background: The COVID-19 pandemic is likely to influence psychological health of pregnant and postpartum women.
Methods: We conducted a non-concurrent cross-sectional study among 1145 women living in the Dutch-speaking part of Belgium, 541 pregnant and 604 postpartum women. We measured psychological health with the Whooley questions, Generalized Anxiety Disorder 2-item (GAD-2) and the Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale (EPDS) and compared the scores of pregnant and postpartum women before and during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Results: No differences were observed in the Whooley, GAD-2 or EPDS scores among pregnant women. The postpartum total GAD-2 scores before vs during the pandemic showed significant differences. Controlling for confounders, we observed a small main positive effect of having an infant during time of COVID-19 (F(1.13) = 5.06, p.025, d.27). The effect was significantly larger for women with (a history of) perinatal psychological problems (F(1.12) = 51.44, p < .001, d.82). Emotional support was significantly related to GAD-2 scores of postpartum women during the pandemic (F(1.90) = 35.54, p < .001). Postpartum women reported significant higher effects of the pandemic on their behavior compared to pregnant women (p.034).
Conclusion:
The COVID-19 pandemic seems to have a positive effect on postpartum women during the first year postpartum, in particular for women with (a history of) perinatal psychological problems and for those women who experienced emotional support. The findings suggest that external stimuli caused by lockdown restrictions might have a positive effect on postpartum women’s emotional wellbeing. The sample consisted of white, educated women in a
relationship and information regarding the extent of exposure to adverse COVID-19 consequences was lacking. We relied on self-selection and self-report. The postpartum pandemic sample was small.
Citation
Kuipers, Y. J., Bleijenbergh, R., Van den Branden, L., van Gils, Y., Rimaux, S., Brosens, C., …Mestdagh, E. (2022). Psychological health of pregnant and postpartum women before and during the COVID-19 Pandemic. PLOS ONE, 17(4), Article e0267042. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0267042
Journal Article Type | Article |
---|---|
Acceptance Date | Mar 31, 2022 |
Online Publication Date | Apr 14, 2022 |
Publication Date | Apr 14, 2022 |
Deposit Date | Apr 27, 2022 |
Publicly Available Date | Apr 27, 2022 |
Journal | PLOS ONE |
Print ISSN | 1932-6203 |
Publisher | Public Library of Science |
Peer Reviewed | Peer Reviewed |
Volume | 17 |
Issue | 4 |
Article Number | e0267042 |
DOI | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0267042 |
Public URL | http://researchrepository.napier.ac.uk/Output/2865154 |
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Psychological Health Of Pregnant And Postpartum Women Before And During The COVID-19 Pandemic
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Publisher Licence URL
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
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