Association of Stress-Related Factors With Anxiety Among Chinese Pregnant Participants in an Online Crisis Intervention During COVID-19 Epidemic

Frontiers in Psychology

Xiang Yang Zhang²  Zhengkui Liu²  Wei Qian²  Ruoxi Wang³  Xiao Quan⁴  Chen Zhang⁴  Chenhao Zhou⁴  Fangfang Shangguan⁴  Yongjie Zhou⁵ 

[1] CAS Key Laboratory of Mental Health, Institute of Psychology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Bejing, China;Department of Psychology, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Bejing, China;School of Medicine and Health Management, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, China;School of Psychology, Capital Normal University, Bejing, China;Shenzhen KangNing Hospital, Shenzhen, China;

关键词: prenatal anxiety;    crisis intervention;    perceived stress;    pelvic pain;    vaginal bleeding;    COVID-19 outbreak;   

DOI  :  10.3389/fpsyg.2021.633765

来源: DOAJ

【 摘 要 】

Background: Previous systematic review indicated the prevalence of prenatal anxiety as 14–54%. Pregnant women are a high-risk population for COVID-19. However, the prevalence of anxiety symptoms and related factors is unknown in Chinese pregnant women during COVID-19 outbreak.Objective: To investigate the prevalence of anxiety symptoms and the related factors in Chinese pregnant women who were attending crisis intervention during the COVID-19 pandemic.Methods: The data of this cross-sectional study were collected in about 2 months (February 28 to April 26, 2020). Data analysis was performed from April to May 2020. Participants completed a set of questionnaires via the Wechat Mini-program before starting the online self-help crisis intervention for COVID-19 epidemic. A total of 2,120 Chinese pregnant women who were attending a self-help crisis intervention participated in this study. A survey was developed to address possible stress-related factors in pregnant women during the COVID-19 outbreak, including demographic, socioeconomic, and pregnancy-related factors, as well as COVID-19 related factors. Generalized Anxiety Disorder-7 (GAD-7) scale and the 10-item perceived stress scale were, respectively, employed to measure anxiety and stress-related factors.Results: A total of 21.7% (459) of pregnant women reported at least mild anxiety (≥5 on the GAD-7 scale), and only 82 women reported moderate to severe anxiety (≥10 on the GAD-7 scale). Factors associated with at least mild anxiety included living in Hubei province (OR = 1.68, 95% CI = 1.32–2.13), nobody providing everyday life support (OR = 1.81, 95% CI = 1.18–2.77), pelvic pain or vaginal bleeding (OR = 1.67, 95% CI = 1.32–2.09), and higher perceived stress (OR = 6.87, 95% CI = 5.42–9.02). Having relatives or neighbors with a diagnosis of COVID-19 was not associated with anxiety (p > 0.05).Conclusions and Relevance: Our findings indicate that evaluation and intervention for maternal and infant health are necessary in pregnant women with anxiety during COVID-19 epidemic, especially those with higher perceived stress, less everyday life support, or vaginal bleeding. Interactions among these related medical, social and psychological factors need to be investigated in future studies.

【 授权许可】

Unknown