Assessment of pandemic-related pregnancy stress from seven western countries using Rasch analyses.

Introduction: This study examined psychometric properties of the Pandemic-Related Pregnancy Stress Scale (PREPS) using a Rasch Model (RM) in a large sample of pregnant women from Germany, Israel, Italy, Poland, Spain, Switzerland and the United States of America (USA).

Material And Methods: Rasch analyses were used to analyze a sample of 7185 pregnant women who completed the PREPS during the COVID-19 pandemic onset from April to August 2020. Psychological, sociodemographic, and obstetric factors were also collected and analyzed.

Using the PROMOTE Screener to Identify Psychosocial Risk Factors for Prenatal Substance Use.

Introduction: There is an urgent need to improve the identification of psychosocial vulnerabilities in clinical practice (eg, stress, unstable living conditions) and examine their contribution to prenatal substance use, especially for legal substances such as alcohol, tobacco, and recently, cannabis.

Methods: We conducted a retrospective chart review of 1842 patients who completed the PROMOTE screening instrument during their first prenatal visit to outpatient clinics of a New York State health system in 6/2019-11/2020. The PROMOTE includes 18 core items to assess psychosocial vulnerabilities including the NIDA Quick Screen assessing past year substance use.

Obsessive-compulsive symptom trajectories from pregnancy through the postpartum: examining longitudinal course and risk factors during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Purpose: The peripartum is a time of increased risk for the development or worsening of obsessive-compulsive (OC) symptoms. Existing evidence suggests that OC symptoms commonly surge immediately postpartum followed by a gradual recovery. Yet how societal conditions, such as a widespread public health crisis, may affect this pattern remains unknown.

Social Determinants of Health, Prenatal Maternal Stress, and Earlier Birth During the COVID-19 Pandemic.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, pregnant women, especially those from socioeconomically disadvantaged and marginalized groups, experienced unprecedented stress. Prenatal stress and social determinants of health (SDoH) such as lower education and lack of a relationship partner are known to contribute to earlier birth. However, whether SDoH and stress independently contribute or whether the harmful impact of SDoH is mediated by stress is unknown.

Anxiety trajectories from pregnancy to one-year postpartum and their contributors during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Background: Anxiety in the peripartum period (pregnancy through one-year postpartum) has negative impacts on mothers and infants. During the COVID-19 pandemic, high rates of anxiety were reported worldwide, but trajectories for how these symptoms change longitudinally in the peripartum period remain unknown.

Methods: A total of 1,411 women who were pregnant during the second U.

Loneliness and Its Predictors in Rare Versus Common Chronic Illnesses.

Background: Loneliness is a growing public health concern associated with substantial negative mental and physical health outcomes. Loneliness is especially relevant for individuals with a chronic illness, perhaps more so if their illness is rare. Little is known about the psychosocial experience of individuals with a rare chronic illness, and whether and how it may differ from the experience of individuals with common chronic illnesses.

Stigma and mental health in endometriosis.

This review provides an overview of patient experiences of endometriosis, endometriosis-related types and sources of stigma pertaining to menstruation, chronic pain, and infertility, and their impact on patients' mental health with particular implications for patient care. Because endometriosis is a complex disease with multifactorial etiology, complicated pathophysiology, and a spectrum of clinical features, diagnosis of endometriosis is typically a lengthy process, and many patients experience initial misdiagnosis. A hallmark symptom is severe menstrual pain with other symptoms including chronic pelvic pain, dysmenorrhea, and infertility.

Explaining sex discrepancies in sterilization rates in the United States: An evidence-informed commentary.

Context: With abortion no longer deemed a constitutional right in the United States (US), the importance of effective contraceptive methods cannot be overstated. Both male sterilization (vasectomy) and female sterilization (tubal ligation) have the lowest failure rates of available means of contraception. Despite the less invasive and reversible nature of vasectomy compared to tubal ligation procedures and even though some healthcare professionals dissuade certain women, especially those who are white and/or economically advantaged, from undergoing a sterilization procedure, female sterilization is approximately three times more prevalent than male sterilization in the US.

Coping with subjective and objective stress during a pandemic pregnancy: implications for maternal mental health.

The COVID-19 pandemic heightened prenatal maternal stress, a risk factor for poorer maternal and infant health. There was substantial variability, however, in the extent to which the stress of pandemic pregnancy influenced maternal mental health. Some of this variability may have been due to the different coping strategies used to manage pandemic stress.

Investigating Factors Influencing Prenatal Stress, Anxiety, and Fear of Childbirth During the COVID-19 Pandemic in Germany and Switzerland: An Online Survey.

Objectives: Pregnant women are likely to experience high levels of stress during the COVID-19 pandemic. However, the factors that might influence the extent of experienced emotional distress are poorly understood. Therefore, we aimed to investigate potential correlates of prenatal emotional distress during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Associations of stress, anxiety, and partner satisfaction with maternal-fetal attachment in women pregnant during the COVID-19 pandemic: an online study.

Background: The COVID-19 pandemic has led to exceptional stress in pregnant women. The aim of the present study was to investigate associations of maternal stress (pandemic-related and -unrelated), anxiety, and relationship satisfaction experienced during the COVID-19 pandemic with prenatal mother-infant attachment.

Methods: An online study was conducted evaluating pandemic-related stress, pregnancy-specific stress (unrelated to the pandemic), anxiety, partnership satisfaction, and maternal-fetal attachment in German-speaking women during the second COVID-19 lockdown between January and March 2021.

Common model of stress, anxiety, and depressive symptoms in pregnant women from seven high-income Western countries at the COVID-19 pandemic onset.

Objective: Increases in stress, anxiety, and depression among women pregnant during the COVID-19 pandemic have been reported internationally. Yet rigorous comparison of the prevalence of maternal mental health problems across countries is lacking. Moreover, whether stress is a common predictor of maternal mental health during the pandemic across countries is unknown.

Factors related to COVID-19 vaccination intention and uptake among childbearing women.

Objective: Pregnant women are a vulnerable population for coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) due to their risk for severe symptoms and adverse perinatal outcomes. Our objective was to identify contributors to COVID-19 vaccine intention in pregnancy and subsequent uptake, informed by the Theory of Planned Behavior, the Health Belief Model, and paradigms implicating social determinants of health (SDoH).

Method: Total of 1,899 pregnant women across the United States completed questionnaires in December 2020 (T1) and April 2021 (T2).

When pregnancy and pandemic coincide: changes in stress and anxiety over the course of pregnancy.

Background: Pregnant women experienced high levels of perceived stress and anxiety at the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. However, the course of stress and anxiety in individual pregnant women during the pandemic is unknown.

Methods: Participants were 1,087 women ≤20 weeks pregnant in April-May 2020 (T1) at recruitment into the Stony Brook COVID-19 Pregnancy Experiences (SB-COPE) Study, with additional assessments in July-August 2020 (T2) and October 2020 (T3).

Anxiety among pregnant women during the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic in Poland.

Although anxiety is common because of the transitional nature of the perinatal period, particularly high levels of anxiety have been observed in some studies of pregnant women during the pandemic. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the severity of anxiety among pregnant women during the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic in Poland, and factors associated with it. Cross-sectional study with a total of 1050 pregnant women recruited via social media in Poland during the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic, from March 1 until June 1, 2020.

Saving time, signaling trust: Using the PROMOTE self-report screening instrument to enhance prenatal care quality and therapeutic relationships.

Objectives: Comprehensive screening of psychosocial vulnerabilities and substance use in prenatal care is critical to promote the health and well-being of pregnant patients. Effective implementation of new screening procedures and instruments should be accompanied by an in-depth investigation to assess their feasibility and impact on care delivery.

Methods: In 2020, following implementation of the Profile for Maternal and Obstetric Treatment Effectiveness (PROMOTE) an innovative self-report screening instrument developed for outpatient prenatal clinics in the U.

Stress, Coping, and Psychiatric Symptoms in Pregnant Women in Outpatient Care During the 2021 Second-Wave COVID-19 Pandemic.

Women face many sources of stress throughout their lives, and some periods are particularly sensitive; pregnancy is one of them. The COVID-19 pandemic is a likely source of additional stress for pregnant women. Moreover, there is evidence that pregnant women have experienced high levels of anxiety and depression symptoms during the pandemic.

Development and psychometric properties of the Pandemic-Related Postpartum Stress Scale (PREPS-PP).

Purpose: Postpartum experiences have been adversely affected by the burdens of the COVID-19 pandemic. However, there are no well-tested measures of pandemic-specific postpartum stress. We developed a modified, postpartum version of the Pandemic-Related Pregnancy Stress Scale (PREPS) and examined the psychometric properties of this novel measure.

Association of Discrimination and Health Care Experiences With Incomplete Infant Vaccination During COVID-19.

This observational analysis explores how the COVID-19 pandemic contributed to a decrease in infant vaccinations.

Missingness patterns in a comprehensive instrument identifying psychosocial and substance use risk in antenatal care.

Background: Psychosocial vulnerabilities (e.g. inadequate social support, financial insecurity, stress) and substance use elevate risks for adverse perinatal outcomes and maternal mental health morbidities.

Pandemic Stress and Its Correlates among Pregnant Women during the Second Wave of COVID-19 in Poland.

The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic has created numerous stressful conditions, especially for vulnerable populations such as pregnant women. Pandemic-related pregnancy stress consists of two dimensions: stress associated with feeling unprepared for birth due to the pandemic (Preparedness Stress), and stress related to fears of perinatal COVID-19 infection (Perinatal Infection Stress). The purpose of our study was to elucidate the association between various factors-sociodemographic, obstetric, pandemic-related, and situational-and pandemic stress in its two dimensions during the second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic in Polish pregnant women.

The impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on birth satisfaction in a prospective cohort of 2,341 U.S. women.

Problem: Birth satisfaction is an important health outcome that is related to postpartum mood, infant caretaking, and future pregnancy intention.

Background: The COVID-19 pandemic profoundly affected antenatal care and intrapartum practices that may reduce birth satisfaction.

Aim: To investigate the extent to which pandemic-related factors predicted lower birth satisfaction.

"How am I going to make it through pregnancy?" A qualitative examination of prenatal maternal stress.

Background: Prenatal maternal stress (PNMS) is common among childbearing women, and there is substantial evidence that persistent high levels of stress during pregnancy are associated with adverse birth outcomes and poorer postpartum mental health. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to examine the idiographic experiences of women who experienced elevated PNMS during their current or most recent pregnancy.

Methods: Six focus groups were conducted, and data were collected from 26 women (n = 16 pregnant and n = 10 postpartum) at a large medical center in the United States (US).

Pandemic-related pregnancy stress among pregnant women during the COVID-19 pandemic in Spain.

Objective: The aim was to develop and establish the psychometric properties of the Pandemic-Related Pregnancy Stress Scale (PREPS) in European Spanish speaking pregnant women in Spain.

Design: A cross section design using a non-random sample of 206 women completed the questionnaire during the first COVID-19 pandemic lockdown from April to June 2020 in Spain. Psychological, sociodemographic and obstetric factors and the new PREPS were collected.