Depression and Anxiety in Mothers Who Were Pregnant During the COVID-19 Outbreak in Northern Italy: The Role of Pandemic-Related Emotional Stress and Perceived Social Support

The COVID-19 pandemic is a collective trauma that is threatening citizens' mental health resulting in increased emotional stress, reduced social support, and heightened risk for affective symptoms. The present study aimed to investigate the effects of antenatal pandemic-related emotional stress...

Full description

Saved in:

Bibliographic Details
Published in:	Frontiers in psychiatry Vol. 12; p. 716488
Main Authors:	Grumi, Serena, Provenzi, Livio, Accorsi, Patrizia, Biasucci, Giacomo, Cavallini, Anna, Decembrino, Lidia, Falcone, Rossana, Fazzi, Elisa Maria, Gardella, Barbara, Giacchero, Roberta, Guerini, Paola, Grossi, Elena, Magnani, Maria Luisa, Mariani, Eloisa Maria, Nacinovich, Renata, Pantaleo, Dario, Pisoni, Camilla, Prefumo, Federico, Sabatini, Caterina, Scelsa, Barbara, Spartà, Maria Valentina, Spinillo, Arsenio, Giorda, Roberto, Orcesi, Simona, Borgatti, Renato
Format:	Journal Article
Language:	English
Published:	Switzerland Frontiers Media S.A 03-09-2021
Subjects:	anxiety COVID- 19 depression mothers Psychiatry social support stress social support anxiety stress COVID- 19 mothers pregnancy depression pandemic
Online Access:	Get full text
Tags:	Add Tag No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!

Description
Summary:	The COVID-19 pandemic is a collective trauma that is threatening citizens' mental health resulting in increased emotional stress, reduced social support, and heightened risk for affective symptoms. The present study aimed to investigate the effects of antenatal pandemic-related emotional stress and perceived social support on the symptoms of depression and anxiety of mothers who were pregnant during the initial COVID-19 outbreak in northern Italy. A sample of 281 mothers was enrolled at eight maternity units in the first hotspot region of the COVID-19 outbreak in northern Italy. Participants filled out online questionnaires assessing the direct or indirect exposure to the SARS-CoV-2 virus, pandemic-related stress, perceived social support, as well as symptoms of depression and anxiety. Depressive and anxious symptomatology was above clinical concern, respectively, in 26 and 32% of the respondents. Mothers who reported no exposure to SARS-CoV-2 during pregnancy and those who reported at least one direct or indirect exposure did not differ in terms of affective symptoms. Continuous scores and risk for severe depression and anxiety were positively associated with prenatal pandemic-related emotional stress and negatively linked with perceived social support during pregnancy. Women who become mothers during the COVID-19 emergency may be at high risk for affective problems. Dedicated preventive programs are needed to provide adequate preventive support and care for maternal mental health during and after the COVID-19 pandemic.
Bibliography:	ObjectType-Article-1 SourceType-Scholarly Journals-1 ObjectType-Feature-2 content type line 23 This article was submitted to Public Mental Health, a section of the journal Frontiers in Psychiatry Reviewed by: Marcos Vasconcelos Pais, University of São Paulo, Brazil; Francesca Agostini, University of Bologna, Italy Edited by: Emma Sorbring, University West, Sweden The author names are listed in the section MOM-COPE Study Group
ISSN:	1664-0640 1664-0640
DOI:	10.3389/fpsyt.2021.716488