“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).