Knowledge, perception, and protective measures of Turkish pregnant women towards COVID-19 pandemic and their effects on anxiety levels

Abstract

The aim of this study was to assess the knowledge of pregnant women regarding COVID-19 while evaluating the ability of protective measures and their effects on the level of anxiety during this pandemic. Using a prospective cross-sectional survey, 304 pregnant women attending prenatal polyclinics were included in our study between June 10 and July 10, 2020. The mean age of participants was 29.2 ± 6.0 years. The median gestational week was 25, ranging from 25 to 40 weeks of gestation. There was no significant correlation between a gestational week or complicated pregnancy and anxiety. Most participants possessed adequate knowledge and practical skills concerning Covid-19. Women with adequate knowledge were found to be statistically related to a high practice skills score and lower anxiety levels. Good knowledge levels are related to good practice skills and lower anxiety levels. Although pregnancy is not currently considered a risk factor, we believe it is vital to inform pregnant women about COVID-19 since they are naturally prone to mental problems and respiratory infections during pregnancy. Therefore, healthcare professionals should be encouraged to play an active role in this issue, replacing social media, a common source of misinformation for this target demographic.

Impact statement

• What is already known on this subject? The prevalence of depression and anxiety symptoms among pregnant women increased significantly after the declaration of human-to-human transmission and the increasingly rapid spread of COVID-19.

• What do the results of this study add? Pregnant women with good knowledge of COVID-19 were found to have adequate practice skills and lower anxiety levels.

• What are the implications of these findings for clinical practice and/or further research? The act of informing pregnant women is essential in reducing anxiety levels and taking more accurate measures against COVID-19 because high levels of anxiety and depression can have long‐term effects on maternal and foetal health. To minimise the potential for information pollution on social media, health professionals must play a more significant role in informing pregnant women and provide evidence‐based information to pregnant women about the effects of COVID‐19 on pregnancy

Keywords:

• COVID‐19
• knowledge
• pregnancy
• anxiety
• preventive measures
• hospital anxiety and depression scale (HADS)

Acknowledgments

Language has been edited by native English speaker Dr. Fructuoso Irigoyen.

Statistical analyses have been calculated by biostatistician Çağla Sarıtürk.

The authors are grateful to all participants who agreed to participate voluntarily in this study.

Disclosure statement

The authors declare that there are no conflicts of interest.