Knowledge, Attitudes, Practices and Mental Health Impact of COVID-19 to Pregnant Women in 2020 to 2021
Article Sidebar
Main Article Content
Abstract
Objectives: To evaluate and compare the knowledge, attitudes, practices and mental health impact of COVID-19 (Coronavirus disease, COVID-19) on Thai pregnant women and to identify the factors associated with these outcomes
Methods: A self-administered questionnaires and Thai GHQ-28 (Thai General Health Questionnaire, Thai GHQ-28) was given to pregnant women ages 18 and above who attended antenatal care at Songklanagarind Hospital between July-September, 2020 and July-November, 2021. Three hundred and sixty women were recruited in each period. The knowledge, attitudes, practices, mental health status and factors associated with the outcomes were analyzed.
Results: The participants with good knowledge (score 12-15) increased from 27.5% in 2020 to 42.5% in 2021. Factors associated with good knowledge are high education, government or state enterprise employee, high income and survey in 2021. Positive attitudes (≥ 4/5 items) were unchanged between the two periods (65.3% vs 67.5%). Most of the women had good practices (> 8/10 items) and these were improved significantly in 2021 (78.9% vs 87.2%). Factors associated with good practices were high education, high income, good knowledge scores and survey in 2021. The COVID-19 outbreak had mild negative impact on mental health. Only 0.83% of participants in 2020 and 3.89% of those in 2021 had Thai GHQ-28 scores > 6 that needed additional psychological support. Factors associated with the mental health problems were marital status, increased severity and numbers of infected cases in 2021.
Conclusions: Knowledge and practices about COVID-19 infection improved from 2020 to 2021. Pregnant women have low incidence of mental health problems.
Article Details
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
References
James PB, Wardle J, Steel A, Adams J. Post-Ebola psychosocial experiences and coping mechanisms among Ebola survivors: a systematic review. Trop Med Int Health 2019;24:671-91.
Lee TMC, Chi I, Chung LWM, Chou KL. Ageing and psychological response during the post-SARS period. Aging Ment Health 2006;10:303-11.
Sim K, Huak Chan Y, Chong PN, Chua HC, Wen Soon S. Psychosocial and coping responses within the community health care setting towards a national outbreak of an infectious disease. J Psychosom Res 2010;68:195-202.
Taha S, Matheson K, Cronin T, Anisman H. Intolerance of uncertainty, appraisals, coping, and anxiety: the case of the 2009 H1N1 pandemic. Br J Health Psychol 2014;19:592-605.
Chan SSC, Leung D, Chui H, Tiwari AFY, Wong EMY, Wong DCN, et al. Parental response to child’s isolation during the SARS outbreak. Ambul Pediatr 2007;7: 401-4.
Holmes EA, O’Connor RC, Perry VH, Tracey I, Wessely S, Arseneault L, et al. Multidisciplinary research priorities for the COVID-19 pandemic: a call for action for mental health science. Lancet Psychiatry 2020;7:547-60.
Kamara S, Walder A, Duncan J, Kabbedijk A, Hughes P, Muana A. Mental health care during the Ebola virus disease outbreak in Sierra Leone. Bull World Health Organ 2017;95:842-7.
Matua GA, Van der Wal DM. Living Under the constant threat of ebola: A phenomenological study of survivors and family caregivers during an ebola outbreak. J Nurs Res JNR 2015;23:217-24.
Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic [Internet]. [cited 2022 Dec 11]. Available from: https://www.who.int/europe/emergencies/situations/covid-19
Wang C, Horby PW, Hayden FG, Gao GF. A novel coronavirus outbreak of global health concern. Lancet Lond Engl 2020;395:470-3.
Nishiura H, Jung SM, Linton NM, Kinoshita R, Yang Y, Hayashi K, et al. The extent of transmission of novel coronavirus in Wuhan, China, 2020. J Clin Med 2020;9:330.
Corona Virus Disease (COVID-19) [Internet]. [cited 2022 Dec 11]. Available from: https://ddc.moph.go.th/viralpneumonia/eng/situation.php
Coronavirus disease (COVID-19): Pregnancy, childbirth and the postnatal period [Internet]. [cited 2022 Dec 11]. Available from: https://www.who.int/news-room/questions-and-answers/item/coronavirus-disease-covid-19-pregnancy-and-childbirth
Pattanachairuj W,Srisataporn T, Sangkomkamhang U, Tangsiriwatthana T. Pregnancy outcomes among singleton pregnant women with coronavirus disease 2019 Infection: A single-center study in Thailand. Thai J Obstet Gynaecol 2023;31:409-20.
Chigateri S, Hoblidar S, Moni SS, Desai RM, Luke CR. Comparison of clinical characteristics and prognostic markers in pregnant women during the first and second wave of COVID-19 in India. Thai J Obstet Gynaecol 2022;30:196-77.
Lee DTS, Sahota D, Leung TN, Yip ASK, Lee FFY, Chung TKH. Psychological responses of pregnant women to an infectious outbreak: a case-control study of the 2003 SARS outbreak in Hong Kong. J Psychosom Res 2006;61:707-13.
Ng J, Sham A, Tang P, Fung S. SARS: pregnant women’s fears and perceptions. Br J Midwifery 2004;12:698-702.
Nilchaikovit T, Sukying C, Silpakit C. Reliability and validity of the Thai version of the General Health Questionnaire. J Psychiatr Assoc Thailand 1996;41: 2-17.
Kunno J, Yubonpunt P, Supawattanabodee B, Sumanasrethakul C, Wiriyasirivaj B. Knowledge, attitudes, and practices related to the COVID-19 pandemic among pregnant women in Bangkok, Thailand. BMC Pregnancy Childbirth 2022;22:357.
Sukontrakoon P, Phumonsakul S, Gerdprasert S, Prohm S, Sawatpanich A. Associations among knowledge, attitudes, health behaviors, and stress of pregnant women in Thailand during the new coronavirus-2019. Rama Nurs J 2022;28:170-82.
Tasnim H, Amin MB, Roy N, Aktarujjaman M, Rogers BT, Rosby R, et al. Knowledge, attitudes, and practices towards COVID-19 among pregnant women in northern bangladesh: A community-based cross-sectional study. Behav Sci 2023;13:2.
Racine N, Hetherington E, McArthur BA, McDonald S, Edwards S, Tough S, et al. Maternal depressive and anxiety symptoms before and during the COVID-19 pandemic in Canada: a longitudinal analysis. Lancet Psychiatry 2021;8:405-15.
Preda M, Dinu RS, Prasacu I, Manolescu LSC. SARS-CoV-2 Infection anxiety, knowledge and sttitudes in university degree pregnant women from Romania - A cross-sectional observational survey in the first two pandemic years. Vaccines 2023;11:1-16.
Ding W, Lu J, Zhou Y, Wei W, Zhou Z, Chen M.Knowledge, attitudes, practices, and influencing factors of anxiety among pregnant women in Wuhan during the outbreak of COVID-19: a cross-sectional study. BMC Pregnancy Childbirth 2021;21: 1-9.
Flacco ME, Martellucci CA, Soldato G, Martino GD, Carota R, Benedictis MD, et al. COVID-19 vaccination did not increase the risk of potentially related serious adverse events: 18-month cohort study in an Italian province. Vaccines 2023;11:31-44.
Sirikul W, Ongprasert K, Piankusol C, Siviroj P. Maternal mental health under COVID-19 pandemic in Thailand. Int J Environ Res Public Health 2022;19:347-360.