Impact of Psycho-Educational Nursing Intervention about Covid-19: on the Pregnant Woman's Knowledge, Anxiety, Depression, and Protective Practices

Abstract

Background: Covid-19 is a new viral disease that has caused a pandemic in the world. Due to the shortage of specific definitive vaccines and treatments, protective behaviors became a vital way to overcome the disease. As a special category, pregnant women need more attention. Aim: To determine the impact of psycho-educational nursing intervention about Covid-19 on knowledge, anxiety, depression levels, and protective practices among pregnant women. Subjects and Method: Study Design: A quasi-experimental (pre-post) design used. Subjects: convenient sample of (243) pregnant women admitted for antenatal care from Kelby and Bahary health care centers in Shebin Elkom district-Menoufia Governorate-Egypt from September to December 2020. Tools: Two tools were utilized for data collection: Structure Interview Schedule and Hospital Anxiety Depression Scale.The period of implementation was (3) months, the implementation was passed into three phases (pre-assessment, implementation, and evaluation phase). Results: There was an association between some variables of socio-demographic characteristics and its total post-anxiety-depression and reproductive history. There was a highly statistically significant difference (P<0.000) between the total mean score of participants' anxiety and depression pre and post-test psycho-educational nursing intervention. Conclusions:According to the results, psycho-educational nursing intervention increased women's knowledge and significantly reduce the anxiety and depression levels during Covid-19 pandemic for pregnant women. Recommendation: Effective strategies targeting maternal stress, anxiety, and depression such as effective risk communication and the provision of psychological first aid may be particularly useful to prevent negative outcomes for pregnant women and their fetuses during Covid pandemic.