Abstract
Background: The COVID-19 pandemic affects health of pregnant
women and their attitudes and behaviours related to pregnancy and
birth.
Aim: To explore the impact of pregnant women’s health-seeking
behaviour and mode of birth preferences on pregnancy distress during the
COVID-19 pandemic.
Material and Method: The type of this study is cross-sectional.
It was conducted with 351 pregnant women admitted to the pregnancy
outpatient clinic. The data were collected using the “Pregnancy
Information Form, the Pregnancy Distress Scale, and the Health Seeking
Behaviour Scale”. The data were evaluated with Wilcoxon, Binary
Logistic, and Linear regression analysis. STROBE checklist guide was
followed in the study.
Results: The study revealed that the total pregnancy distress
score and risky distress levels of pregnant women during the COVID-19
pandemic were higher than before. Increased health-seeking behaviour in
pregnant women decreased the pregnancy distress stemming from inadequate
partner involvement. 11.3% of the pregnant women have changed their
mode of birth preferences due to the pandemic. The risk of pregnancy
distress increased 5.4 times in those who changed their mode of birth
due to pandemic compared to those who preferred vaginal birth before and
during the pandemic.
Conclusion: There is effect of their health-seeking behaviour
and mode of birth preference on distress of the pregnant women during
pandemic. Health professionals should reduce the distress of the
pregnant woman by ensuring the continuity of antenatal care and
counseling services during the pandemic.
Keywords: COVID-19 pandemic, pregnant women, distress,
health-seeking behaviour, mode of birth