Pregnant women in Japan had higher levels of anxiety due to COVID-19 pandemic

Pregnant women in Japan who responded to an early online survey in COVID-19 pandemic showed higher levels of anxiety compared to women receiving fertility treatment and to pregnant women in Iran.

The results were published in the Journal of Affective Disorders Reports.

The pandemic has altered the social environments of pregnant women and fertility patients. “

Koubon Wakashima, C.linical psychologist, Tohoku University

For example, restrictions in Japan meant that pregnant women could not participate in group parenting classes or travel to their parents ’homes to receive traditional childbirth support. Medical centers in the country said fewer women were accessing infertile treatments.

Wakashima and colleagues at Tohoku University, Hokkaido University and the National Foundation of Brief Therapy surveyed several fertility and fertility websites in late May and early June 2020.

Nearly 300 pregnant women and 13 women receiving fertility treatment responded to a Japanese version of the COVID-19 Male Scale, originally developed by Iranian researchers.

Studies on the studies showed that pregnant women in Japan had higher levels of anxiety compared to fertility patients. Their levels of anxiety were related to increased stock collection and monitoring of their own health.

Pregnant women who considered social networking services to be an important source of information reported lower levels of anxiety compared to those who preferred newspapers and TV. Finally, the researchers compared the results of their study with a similar one conducted in Iran and found that Japanese pregnant women showed higher levels of anxiety compared to pregnant women. an Ioran.

The scientists acknowledge that their study has a number of limitations in relation to, for example, the ability to assess the causal causal relationships between anxiety and different treatment behaviors, and the lack of detailed information about media content that women access to it.

Nonetheless, they suggest that the findings highlight the importance of developing communication that will help pregnant women deal with feelings of anxiety as well as giving up. infection prevention information.

The team then aims to study how the fear of COVID-19 varies by occupation and by time of year. They also plan to examine how one person’s fears affect other family members.