Anxiety states and knowledge of COVID-19 among pregnant women during the pandemic in Turkey – a cross-sectional study

Esra Hoşoğlu
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Berkan Şahin
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Bedia Sultan Önal
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Sema Baki Yıldırım
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Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Giresun University Maternity and Children Training and Research Hospital, Giresun, Turkey
Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Giresun University Maternity and Children Training and Research Hospital, Giresun, Turkey
Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Giresun University Maternity and Children Training and Research Hospital, Giresun, Turkey
Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Giresun University Faculty of Medicine, Giresun, Turkey
Received: 3 December 2020 / Accepted: 15 January 2021 / Published: 30 March 2021

Abstract

Introduction. Infectious outbreaks have negative effects not only on the physical health of the society but also on the mental health.

Aim. To evaluate the anxiety states and knowledge of COVID-19 during the pandemic in pregnant women.

Material and methods. Cross-sectional study conducted in a university hospital in Turkey. A total of 199 pregnant women were included in the study. The State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI), two questionnaires to evaluate the knowledge about COVID-19, and COVID-19-related anxiety were applied to all the women.

Results. The highest level of COVID-19-related anxieties were about their spouses or newborns contracting COVID-19, effects of drugs on fetus and contracting COVID-19 during delivery. There was a negative correlation between gestational week and the questionnaire of COVID-19-related anxieties (r=-0.152, p=0.037). STAI total score was 76.48±14.11, and STAI-T scores (42.39±7.66) were higher than STAI-S scores (34.09±8.77). Although their general knowledge about the disease was relatively good, their level of knowledge on issues that pertained specifically to pregnancy was low.

Conclusion. These findings indicated more than four months had passed since the pandemic came to the country but, pregnant women were very worried and did not have enough information about the disease.

 

Cite

Hoşoğlu E, Şahin B, Önal BS, Baki Yıldırım S. Anxiety states and knowledge of COVID-19 among pregnant women during the pandemic in Turkey – a cross-sectional study. Eur J Clin Exp Med. 2021;19(1):10–17. doi: 10.15584/ejcem.2021.1.2

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