Depression, Anxiety, Resilience, and Coping: The Experience of Pregnant and New Mothers During the First Few Months of the COVID-19 Pandemic

Abstract

Background: It is well-documented that the mental health of pregnant and postpartum women is essential for maternal, child, and family well-being. Of major public health concern is the perinatal mental health impacts that may occur during the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. It is essential to explore the symptom experience and predictors of mental health status, including the relationship between media use and mental health. Materials and Methods: The purpose of this study is to evaluate the experiences of pregnant and postpartum women (n = 524) in the United States in the early phase of the COVID-19 pandemic. This cross-sectional online observational study collected psychosocial quantitative and qualitative survey data in adult pregnant and postpartum (up to 6 months postdelivery) women in April-June 2020. Results: Multivariable linear regression models were used to evaluate predictors of depressive symptoms, anxiety, and post-traumatic stress disorder. The most common predictors were job insecurity, family concerns, eating comfort foods, resilience/adaptability score, sleep, and use of social and news media. Qualitative themes centered on pervasive uncertainty and anxiety; grief about losses; gratitude for shifting priorities; and use of self-care methods including changing media use.Conclusions: This study provides information to identify risk for anxiety, depression, and PTSD symptoms in perinatal women during acute public health situations. Women with family and job concerns and low resilience/adaptability scores seem to be at high risk of psychological sequelae. Although use of social media is thought to improve social connectedness, our results indicate that increased media consumption is related to increased anxiety symptoms.

Resilience and Anxiety Among Healthcare Workers During the Spread of the SARS-CoV-2 Delta Variant: A Moderated Mediation Model

“…To date, the association between resilience, coping style and anxiety has been widely investigated (41)(42)(43). However, some of these studies focused on patients rather than medical staff, and others used coping style as an independent variable or resilience as a moderator.…”

What Is the Role of Resilience and Coping Strategies on the Mental Health of the General Population during the COVID-19 Pandemic? Results from the Italian Multicentric COMET Study

“…Several studies have been carried out so far in order to identify the prevalence of personal or social factors protecting people from developing mental disorders during the pandemic [41][42][43][44][45][46]. In particular, studies have been focused on the perceived levels of stress, resilience, and coping strategies related to COVID-19 in the general population [47,48], in older adults [45,49], in pregnant women [50][51][52][53], in college students [54], in children and adolescents [55,56], and in mental health professionals [57,58].…”

Did we learn something positive out of the COVID-19 pandemic? Post-traumatic growth and mental health in the general population

“…The negative consequences of the pandemic on the mental health may vary in different target populations, such as healthcare professionals, people infected by the COVID-19, people living with disabilities or affected by chronic physical and mental disorders [ 18 ] or special population, such as pregnant women [ 19 – 24 ], elderly [ 25 , 26 ] or young people [ 27 – 30 ]. In particular, the psychiatric and psychological consequences of the pandemic on the general population mainly include high levels of distress [ 31 , 32 ] and of post-traumatic reactions [ 33 – 35 ], social isolation with suicidal ideation [ 36 – 39 ], depressive and anxiety symptoms and sleep disorders [ 40 – 44 ].…”