Clinical and Translational Research
Copyright ©The Author(s) 2021. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Psychiatr. Jul 19, 2021; 11(7): 365-374
Published online Jul 19, 2021. doi: 10.5498/wjp.v11.i7.365
Role of perceived family support in psychological distress for pregnant women during the COVID-19 pandemic
Yan-Ni Wang, Zhao-Jing Yuan, Wan-Chun Leng, Lu-Yao Xia, Ruo-Xi Wang, Ze-Zhi Li, Yong-Jie Zhou, Xiang-Yang Zhang
Yan-Ni Wang, Department of Maternal, Child and Adolescent Health, School of Public Health, Lanzhou University, Lanzhou 730000, Gansu Province, China
Zhao-Jing Yuan, Wan-Chun Leng, Qingdao Mental Health Center, Qingdao University, Qingdao 266000, Shandong Province, China
Lu-Yao Xia, CAS Key Laboratory of Mental Health, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 10000, China
Ruo-Xi Wang, School of Medicine and Health Management, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan 430070, Hubei Province, China
Ze-Zhi Li, Department of Neurology, Ren Ji Hospital, Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine, Shanghai 200127, China
Yong-Jie Zhou, Department of Psychiatric Rehabilitation, Shenzhen Kangning Hospital, Shenzhen 510810, Guangdong Province, China
Xiang-Yang Zhang, CAS Key Laboratory of Mental Health, Institute of Psychology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100101, China
Author contributions: Zhang XY and Zhou YJ designed the study, and jointly directed this work; Yuan ZJ, Leng WC, Xia LY and Wang RX were responsible for collecting the data; Zhou YJ and Wang YN collected literatures, cleaned data and did statistical analysis; Wang YN wrote the manuscript; Zhang XY and Li ZZ reviewed and revised the manuscript.
Supported by Lanzhou Science and Technology Project, No. 2020-XG-71.
Institutional review board statement: The protocol of the study was approved by the ethics committee of the Institutional Review Board of the Institute of Psychology, Chinese Academy of Sciences.
Informed consent statement: All participants provided the informed consent before participating in the study.
Conflict-of-interest statement: The authors declare that they have no conflicts of interest.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article that was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/Licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Corresponding author: Xiang-Yang Zhang, MD, Professor, CAS Key Laboratory of Mental Health, Institute of Psychology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, No. 16 Lincui Road, Chaoyang District, Beijing 100101, China. zhangxy@psych.ac.cn
Received: February 10, 2021
Peer-review started: February 10, 2021
First decision: May 5, 2021
Revised: May 8, 2021
Accepted: June 17, 2021
Article in press: June 17, 2021
Published online: July 19, 2021
Processing time: 154 Days and 18.5 Hours
Abstract
BACKGROUND

The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has caused major public panic in China. Pregnant women may be more vulnerable to stress, which may cause them to have psychological problems.

AIM

To explore the effects of perceived family support on psychological distress in pregnant women during the COVID-19 pandemic.

METHODS

A total of 2232 subjects were recruited from three cities in China. Through the online surveys, information on demographic data and health status during pregnancy were collected. Insomnia severity index, generalized anxiety disorder 7-item scale, patient health questionnaire-9, somatization subscale of the symptom check list 90 scale, and posttraumatic stress disorder checklist were used to assess the psychological distress.

RESULTS

A total of 1015 (45.4%) women reported having at least one psychological distress. The women who reported having inadequate family support were more likely to suffer from multiple psychological distress (≥ 2 psychological distress) than women who received adequate family support. Among the women who reported less family support, 41.8% reported depression, 31.1% reported anxiety, 8.2% reported insomnia, 13.3% reported somatization and 8.9% reported posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), which were significantly higher than those who received strong family support. Perceived family support level was negatively correlated with depressive symptoms (r = -0.118, P < 0.001), anxiety symptoms (r = -0.111, P < 0.001), and PTSD symptoms (r = -0.155, P < 0.001).

CONCLUSION

Family support plays an important part on pregnant women’s mental health during the COVID-19 pandemic. Better family support can help improve the mental health of pregnant women.

Keywords: Pregnant women; Perceived family support; Coronavirus; Psychological distress

Core Tip: The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has caused major public panic in China. Pregnant women may be more vulnerable to stress, which may cause them to have psychological problems. The purpose of this study was to explore the effects of perceived family support on psychological distress in pregnant women during the COVID-19 pandemic. We found that family support plays an important part on pregnant women’s mental health during the COVID-19 pandemic. Better family support can help improve the mental health of pregnant women.