1. Pregnancy-Specific Stress during the First Lockdown of the COVID-19 Pandemic: Assessing Face-to-Face versus Online Recruitment
- Author
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Sandra Simó, Juanita Cajiao-Nieto, Natalia V. Awad-Sirhan, and Rafael A. Caparros-Gonzalez
- Subjects
Maternal mental health ,Health, Toxicology and Mutagenesis ,Public Health, Environmental and Occupational Health ,Infant, Newborn ,Parturition ,COVID-19 ,Anxiety ,Pregnancy-specific stress ,Prenatal health ,Young Adult ,pregnancy-specific stress ,online survey ,maternal mental health ,perinatal mental health ,prenatal health ,Pregnancy ,Perinatal mental health ,Communicable Disease Control ,Online survey ,Humans ,Female ,Pregnant Women ,Pandemics ,Stress, Psychological - Abstract
The study aims to assess pregnancy-specific stress among pregnant women in Spain during the first lockdown of the COVID-19 pandemic. Two samples of pregnant women from the south of Spain (Andalusia) were assessed using the Prenatal Distress Questionnaire (PDQ) and a sociodemographic and obstetric questionnaire. Group 1 (N = 155) was recruited face-to-face, whereas Group 2 (N = 78) was recruited online. Pregnancy-specific stress levels were significantly different in both groups. The face-to-face group (Group 1) had higher pregnancy-specific stress levels than the online group (Group 2). The online sample over-represents young adult pregnant women with high education levels and a high number of previous miscarriages. The face-to-face study seems more accessible to racially and ethnically diverse groups. The main concern among both groups was the risk of having a sick neonate. Research during the COVID-19 pandemic can benefit from using online resources to collect data to screen and identify perinatal mental health problems in a crisis environment. Nevertheless, researchers should be aware of the potential limitations this strategy can have, for example, certain groups of people may have limited access to the internet.
- Published
- 2022