Association between perceived stress, fear and anxiety of COVID 19 with self-care in pregnant women: a cross-sectional study

Pandemic COVID-19 has negative effects on the mental health of all people, especially pregnant women. This study aimed to determine the psychological effects of COVID-19 on self-care in pregnant women. The Cross-sectional study using the Multistage sampling technique was conducted among 215 pregnant women selected randomly from the Iranian Integrated Health System in 2020. Data were collected using demographic and obstetrics questionnaires, Pregnancy Self-Care Scale, Fear of COVID-19, COVID-19 Anxiety Scale(CDAS), and Perceived Stress Scale (PSS) by the self-report method. Data analysis was performed using SPSS software version 21 with Pearson correlation test and multivariable linear regression.The Mean (Standard Deviation (SD)) of Fear, anxiety, perceived stress, and self-care was 20.85(6.45), 18.20(10.45), 31.16 (7.65) and 40.84(4.11), respectively. The correlational analyses showed small positive significant associations between Fear (r=0.20; P=0.004) and anxiety of COVID-19 (r=0.14; P=0.03)with self-car but the association between perceived stress and self-care was small negative significant (r= -0.14; P=0.04). Based on regression analysis, 11% of the self-care changes could be explained by three independent variables (beta= 0.130, SE= 0.043, P=0.002). Based on the findings, pregnant women may benefit from psychoeducation that focuses on the effect of mental health problems on pregnant women.

Automated summary

The study found that the COVID-19 pandemic has a negative impact on the mental health and self-care of pregnant women. Fear and anxiety are positively correlated with self-care, while perceived stress is negatively correlated.