“Table 1 in here”
84.6% of pregnant women adhered to the COVID-19 regulations, and 39.6%
of them needed professional support during the pandemic. Most of them
benefitted from the internet as an information source (69.52%), and
42.5% found the information sources regarding the pandemic
“sufficient”. During the pandemic, pregnant women mostly wanted to get
information about the impacts of COVID-19 on the health of pregnant
(59.54%) and foetus (67.81%). On average, four out of every five
pregnant women (81.2%) stated that they experienced difficulties
(decreased social support, finding information suspicious, having to go
to the hospital) during the pandemic (Table 2). Two out of every three
pregnant women (66.5%) benefited from the “online” source for the
COVID-19 pandemic. Before and during the pandemic, 53.3% and 23.4% of
the pregnant women reported that they would have a vaginal birth and
caesarean section, respectively. 11.3% of them changed their decision
on the mode of birth due to the pandemic, and 12% have not yet decided
about it (Table 2).
TPDS total score perceived by pregnant women was found to be 17.1±5.87
before the COVID-19 pandemic and 18.71±8.53 during the pandemic, which
shows a statistically significant difference (Graphic 1). According to
the cut-off point of TPDS, the rate of distress score being at risk (28
points and above) was 4.8% (n=17) before the COVID-19 pandemic, while
it was 16.5% (n=58) during the pandemic, and the difference was
statistically significant (p<0.05) (Table 2). During the
COVID-19 pandemic, the total mean score was 42.86±7.39 for the HSBS;
19.58±5.25 for the online health-seeking subscale; 13.51±1.85 for the
professional health-seeking subscale, and 9.77±2.61 for the traditional
health-seeking subscale (Table 2).