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.

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.

The prognostic effect of mechanical, ultrastructural, and ECM signatures in glioblastoma core and rim.

Glioblastoma (GBM) is a highly invasive, aggressive brain cancer that carries a median survival of 15 months and is resistant to standard therapeutics. Recent studies have demonstrated that intratumoral heterogeneity plays a critical role in promoting resistance by mediating tumor adaptation through microenvironmental cues. GBM can be separated into two distinct regions-a core and a rim, which are thought to drive specific aspects of tumor evolution.

Leveling Up Dialectical Behavior Therapy for Autistic Individuals with Emotion Dysregulation: Clinical and Personal Insights.

Autistic people may experience high emotion and sensory sensitivities and a slow return to baseline emotional state. Dialectical behavior therapy (DBT) was developed to address reactivity, impulsivity, and mood dysregulation in individuals with mood and personality disorders. DBT may be therapeutically beneficial to autistic individuals struggling with these or similar emotional and sensory challenges.

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.

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).

Conceptual Invariance, Trajectories, and Outcome Associations of Working Alliance in Unguided and Guided Internet-Based Psychological Interventions: Secondary Analysis of a Randomized Controlled Trial.

Background: The role of working alliance remains unclear for many forms of internet-based interventions (IBIs), a set of effective psychotherapy alternatives that do not require synchronous interactions between patients and therapists.

Objective: This study examined the conceptual invariance, trajectories, and outcome associations of working alliance across an unguided IBI and guided IBIs that incorporated clinician support through asynchronous text messaging or video messaging.

Methods: Adults with high education attainment (n=145) with subclinical levels of anxiety, stress, or depressive symptoms were randomized to 1 of 3 treatment conditions for 7 weeks.

Corrigendum to "Examining the effects of stress and psychological distress on smoking abstinence in cancer patients" [Prev. Med. Rep. 23 (2021) 101402].

[This corrects the article DOI: 10.1016/j.pmedr.

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.

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).

Elevated risk for obsessive-compulsive symptoms in women pregnant during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The COVID-19 pandemic has led to a public mental health crisis with many people experiencing new or worsening anxiety. Fear of contagion and the lack of predictability/control in daily life increased the risk for problems such as obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) in the general population. Pregnant women may be particularly vulnerable to such pandemic-related stressors yet the prevalence of OC symptoms in this population during the pandemic remains unknown.

Examining the effects of stress and psychological distress on smoking abstinence in cancer patients.

Introduction: Cancer patients who smoke report more stress and psychological distress than patients who do not smoke. It is unclear how these emotional symptoms may modify smoking behavior in cancer patients. We examined the influence of a smoking cessation intervention for cancer patients on stress and distress, and the effects of these symptoms on smoking abstinence.

Adverse Perinatal Outcomes Predicted by Prenatal Maternal Stress Among U.S. Women at the COVID-19 Pandemic Onset.

Background: High stress prenatally contributes to poor maternal and infant well-being. The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has created substantial stress for pregnant women.

Purpose: To understand whether stress experienced by women pregnant at the beginning of the pandemic was associated with a greater prevalence of adverse perinatal outcomes.

The role of pandemic-related pregnancy stress in preference for community birth during the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic in the United States.

Background: The COVID-19 pandemic introduced unparalleled uncertainty into the lives of pregnant women, including concerns about where it is the safest to give birth, while preserving their rights and wishes. Reports on the increased interest in community births (at home or in birth centers) are emerging. The purpose of this project was to quantitatively investigate psychological factors related to this birth preference.