Post-partum Women’s Anxiety and Parenting Stress: Home-Visiting Protective Effect During the COVID-19 Pandemic

Abstract

Objectives The COVID-19 pandemic resulted in a particularly adverse and stressful environment for expecting mothers, possibly enhancing feelings of anxiety and parenting stress. The present work assesses mothers' anxiety levels at delivery and parenting stress after 3 months as moderated by home-visiting sessions. Methods Women (n = 177) in their second or third trimester of pregnancy during the COVID-19 lockdown were enrolled in northern Italy and split into those who did and did not receive home visits. After 3 months, the association between anxiety at delivery and parenting stress was assessed with bivariate correlations in the whole sample and comparing the two groups. Results Higher anxiety at birth correlated with greater perceived stress after 3 months. Mothers who received at least one home-visiting session reported lower parenting stress at 3 months than counterparts who did not receive home visits. Conclusions for Practice The perinatal period is a sensitive time window for mother-infant health, especially during a critical time like the COVID-19 pandemic. We suggest that home-visiting programs could be beneficial during global healthcare emergencies to promote maternal well-being after delivery.

Perceived Parenting Stress Is Related to Cardiac Flexibility in Mothers: Data from the NorBaby Study

“…Parents must address specific challenges related to infant care, which can be perceived as highly stressful [26]. Moreover, high parental stress can lead to depression in mothers [42], and postpartum depression or anxiety [43,44] can further increase perceived parenting stress. Parity does not appear to play a relevant role in parenting stress [45] but seems to affect postpartum depression [46].…”

Type of Family Support for Infant and Toddler Care That Relieves Parenting Stress: Does the Number of Children Matter?

“…Previous studies have examined the impact of certain types of family support for infant and toddler care on parenting stress. For instance, home-visiting sessions have been suggested to moderate mothers' anxiety levels at delivery, and parenting stress after 3 months [55]. Parental leave has been shown to contribute to various health outcomes in parents and is conducive to reducing their perceived parenting stress [56,57].…”

Umani, animali bi-cerebrali: perché dovremmo occuparci di genitori?

“…Queste modificazioni epigenetiche erano poi associate al profilo temperamentale del bambino a 3 mesi e allo sviluppo socio-cognitivo a 12 mesi (Nazzari, et al, 2023). È importante notare che il timing di esposizione allo stress e l'intervento precoce possono essere cruciali: da un lato, donne esposte al lockdown durante secondo e terzo trimestre di gravidanza avevano piccoli con le alterazioni epigenetiche più marcate, suggerendo forse un gradiente di sensibilità maggiore a questo tipo di stress nelle fasi più avanzate della gravidanza (Nazzari, et al, 2022); d'altra parte, le famiglie che avevano ricevuto visite domiciliari nel periodo post-partum -anche durante le fasi di lockdownmostravano minori problematiche ansioso-depressive nelle donne (Roberti, et al, 2022). Ciò che è emerso suggerisce nuovamente l'importanza che un intervento precoce di supporto e accompagnamento debba essere offerto anche in situazioni fisiologiche, facilitando la transizione alla genitorialità e promuovendo il benessere di genitori e piccoli.…”