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Pregnancy During the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Nerve Wracking and Isolating Experience for Women and Health Care Providers

Objective The objective is to explore the experiences of pregnant women and health care providers during the COVID-19 pandemic. Design This is a qualitative study that utilizes semi-structured interviews of 15 total participants. A grounded framework was used to display the data collection and analysis that occurred simultaneously. Data was then developed into analytic codes and refined to thematic categories that were then interpreted into to discoverable outcomes. Social processes that were explored in the data include the mental health outcomes of both pregnant women and health care providers as well as the relationship between clients/patients and health care providers. Setting The location is within the United States on a virtual platform where all the interviews were all conducted via Zoom or phone call. Additionally, the analyzing, drafting, and reporting stages were also performed remotely. Participants Included are a total of 15 participant respondents including eight pregnant women, four midwives, two obstetrician-gynecologists (OB/Gyns), and one doula. Five out of the eight pregnant women were pregnant at the time and three had given birth during the early months of the pandemic which were no earlier than April of 2020 right when the pandemic was at one of its peaks. Findings/Key Conclusions The main findings are that women expressed adverse mental health outcomes from isolation, fear of the unknown and a need for more support. Additionally, health care providers discussed how adapting to the changes of the pandemic has negatively affected their practices and philosophy. This included increased stress due to working in a high-risk environment, and the inability to care for their patients in the wholistic way they were used to. Implications The COVID-19 pandemic is observed to be associated with influencing women’s mental health from isolation. Health care providers experience greater stressors due to an overwhelmed health care system. The importance of telemedicine is observed as highly associated with the COVID-19 pandemic. Grant Acknowledgement Special thanks to the Tulane University Newcomb-Tulane and Newcomb Institute Grants committee for their generous contribution to this study.