Background: Birth-related post-traumatic stress disorder occurs in 4.7% of mothers. No previous study focusing precisely on the stress factors related to the COVID-19 pandemic regarding this important public mental health issue has been conducted. However, the stress load brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic could have influenced this risk. Methods: We aimed to estimate the prevalence of traumatic childbirth and birth-related PTSD and to analyze the risk and protective factors involved, including the risk factors related to the COVID-19 pandemic. We conducted a prospective cohort study of women who delivered at the University Hospitals of Geneva between 25 January 2021 and 10 March 2022 with an assessment within 3 days of delivery and a clinical interview at one month post-partum. Results: Among the 254 participants included, 35 (21.1%, 95% CI: 15.1–28.1%) experienced a traumatic childbirth and 15 (9.1%, 95% CI: 5.2–14.6%) developed a birth-related PTSD at one month post-partum according to DSM-5. Known risk factors of birth-related PTSD such as antenatal depression, previous traumatic events, neonatal complications, peritraumatic distress and peritraumatic dissociation were confirmed. Among the factors related to COVID-19, only limited access to prenatal care increased the risk of birth-related PTSD. Conclusions: This study highlights the challenges of early mental health screening during the maternity stay when seeking to provide an early intervention and reduce the risk of developing birth-related PTSD. We found a modest influence of stress factors directly related to the COVID-19 pandemic on this risk.

Objective. There is no evidence on the latent structure of symptoms of childbirth-related posttraumatic stress disorder (CB-PTSD) in fathers and to date, no validated French instrument exists to measure CB-PTSD in partners, although the City Birth Trauma Scale (partner version) (City BiTS (P)) was developed to measure such CB-PTSD symptoms. This study aimed to validate the French version of the City BiTS-P (City BiTS-F (P)) in partners attending childbirth and to examine its factor structure, reliability, and validity. Method. French-speaking fathers of 1-to-12-month-olds participated in this online cross-sectional survey (n = 280). They completed the City BiTS-F (P), the PTSD Checklist, the Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale, and the anxiety subscale of the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale, as well as sociodemographic and medical items. Results. The four-factor model did not fit well the data, contrary to the two-factor model with birth-related symptoms (BRS) and general symptoms (GS). However, the bifactor model with a general factor and the BRS and GS provided the best fit to the data. High reliability (α = .88–.89), and good convergent and divergent validity were found. Fathers with a history of traumatic childbirth reported higher total and subscale scores. Discussion. Our findings provide evidence for the use of the City BiTS-F (P) as a reliable and validated tool to assess CB-PTSD symptoms in French-speaking partners. The use of the total score in addition to the BRS and GS subscale scores is warranted.

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