Being Pregnant In The Covid-19 Pandemic: Has The Pandemic Increased Physical And Mental Symptoms?

Abstract

Aim: This descriptive-cross-sectional study aims to determine whether the Covid-19 pandemic had an effect on the physical and mental symptoms of pregnant women. Methods: The study was conducted between December 2020 and December 2021with 352 pregnant women. The data of the study were collected using the Personal Information Form, Pregnancy Symptom Inventory-PSI, Brief Symptom Inventory-BSI and Visual Analog Scale-VAS. Results: The participants’ PSI and BSI mean scores were 28.69± 14.46, 0.68 ± 0.47 respectively. It was found that the highest scores were obtained from the anxiety (0.72 ± 0.63) and depression (0.95 ± 0.71) sub-dimensions of the BSI. It was found that women who received support from their husbands and had good relationships with their husbands had statistically significantly lower mental and physical symptoms (p˂0.05). Conclusions: Although it was found that pregnant women experienced mild mental and physical symptoms during the pandemic, anxiety and depression symptoms were high among mental symptoms. Especially those who received support from their husbands and had good relationships with their husbands had lower mental and physical symptoms. According to our conclusion that spouse support is especially important, spouse support should be taken into consideration when identifying risky groups and making appropriate interventions.