Pandemic-related pregnancy stress among pregnant women during the COVID-19 pandemic in Spain

Jaqueline Garcia-Silva; Alfonso Caracuel; Alvaro Lozano-Ruiz; Fiona Alderdice; Marci Lobel; Oliver Perra; Rafael A Caparros-Gonzalez

doi:10.1016/j.midw.2021.103163

Pandemic-related pregnancy stress among pregnant women during the COVID-19 pandemic in Spain

Midwifery. 2021 Dec:103:103163. doi: 10.1016/j.midw.2021.103163. Epub 2021 Oct 6.

Authors

Jaqueline Garcia-Silva¹, Alfonso Caracuel², Alvaro Lozano-Ruiz³, Fiona Alderdice⁴, Marci Lobel⁵, Oliver Perra⁶, Rafael A Caparros-Gonzalez⁷

Affiliations

¹ Department of Personality, Assessment and Psychological Treatment, School of Psychology, University of Granada, Granada, Spain.
² Developmental and Educational Psychology Department, University of Granada, Granada, Spain; Mind, Brain and Behavior Research Center, Faculty of Psychology, University of Granada, Granada, Spain.
³ Department of Personality, Assessment and Psychological Treatment, School of Psychology, University of Granada, Granada, Spain; Mind, Brain and Behavior Research Center, Faculty of Psychology, University of Granada, Granada, Spain. Electronic address: [email protected].
⁴ National Perinatal Epidemiology Unit, Nuffield Department of Population Health, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK.
⁵ Department of Psychology, Stony Brook University, Stony Brook, New York, USA.
⁶ Medical Biology Center, School of Nursing and Midwifery, Queen´s University Belfast, Belfast, Northern Ireland.
⁷ Mind, Brain and Behavior Research Center, Faculty of Psychology, University of Granada, Granada, Spain; Faculty of Health Sciences, Department of Nursing, University of Granada, Granada, Spain; Instituto de Investigación Biosanitaria ibs.GRANADA, Granada, Spain.

Abstract

Objective: The aim was to develop and establish the psychometric properties of the Pandemic-Related Pregnancy Stress Scale (PREPS) in European Spanish speaking pregnant women in Spain.

Design: A cross section design using a non-random sample of 206 women completed the questionnaire during the first COVID-19 pandemic lockdown from April to June 2020 in Spain. Psychological, sociodemographic and obstetric factors and the new PREPS were collected.

Results: Bartlett's test of sphericity (χ²(105) = 580.36, p < .001), and KMO = .79 confirmed appropriateness for factor analysis of the PREPS. Confirmatory factor analyses based on the factor structure of the original USA English version of this instrument confirmed three factors - Preparedness Stress (7 items), Perinatal Infection Stress (5 items), and Positive Appraisal (3 items). The 15-item version of the PREPS demonstrates internal consistency and reliability are adequate (α > .77), and for F1 - Preparedness (α > .65), for F2 - Infection (α > 0.60) and for F3 - Positive appraisal (α > .55). The three factors exhibited good inter-item correlations, (F1 - Preparedness: .21; F2 - Infection: .23, and F3 - Positive Appraisal: .29). Convergent validity was examined through the Pearson's correlation coefficients of the PREPS with the Perceived Stress Scale (PSS) and the Prenatal Distress Questionnaire (PDQ). Correlation between PREPS total and PSS was high, and moderate with PDQ (p < .05).

Conclusion: The psychometric properties of the Spanish version of the PREPS make it a valuable psychological measure to assess pandemic-related stress among pregnant women.

Keywords: COVID-19; Pandemic-related pregnancy stress; Prenatal maternal stress; Psychometric properties.

MeSH terms

COVID-19*
Communicable Disease Control
Female
Humans
Pandemics*
Pregnancy
Pregnant Women
Psychometrics
Reproducibility of Results
SARS-CoV-2
Spain / epidemiology
Stress, Psychological / epidemiology
Surveys and Questionnaires