Exploring lived experiences of informal caregivers for pregnant women seeking scheduled antenatal care during the COVID-19 lockdown in China: A phenomenological study.

OBJECTIVE: We aimed to explore the lived experiences of informal caregivers for pregnant women seeking scheduled antenatal care during the early stage of China's COVID-19 lockdown and potential measures to address the challenges. DESIGN: This is a phenomenological qualitative study. SETTING: The study was carried out in a leading teaching hospital in Southwest China. PARTICIPANTS: We recruited 15 informal caregivers for healthy pregnant women on routine antenatal visits about six months after China launched the city-wide lockdown and other control measures for COVID-19, including 10 males and 5 females with diverse demographic backgrounds. MEASURES AND FINDINGS: The research team developed a demographic form and an interview outline with key questions, conducted semi-structured interviews with the informal caregivers, and analyzed the data using the Colazzie's method. Five themes of lived experiences were revealed, i.e., increased caregiving burdens, disruption of routines in family life, lack of accurate information and knowledge, active role adjustment, and positive attitudes and coping in a difficult time. Some caregivers reacted positively to the lockdown experience and saw it as an opportunity to rethink their lives and improve family relations. KEY CONCLUSIONS: The informal caregivers experienced increased physical and psychological burdens. Strategies such as adoption of a less frequent prenatal visit schedule, use of tele-medicine technologies, and provision of accurate information and knowledge may help to ease the increased informal caregiving burdens. Psychological counseling, community services and disaster response policies specially targeting pregnant women and their informal caregivers may also be valuable resources. IMPLICATIONS FOR PRACTICE: Attention should be drawn to the group of informal caregivers for pregnant women during a COVID-19 lockdown, including professional assistance delivered by nursing and other related professionals. Measures are called for to minimize exposure opportunities such as adoption of a new prenatal care schedule and tele-medicine technologies. Patient education with reliable information should be provided, preferably by nursing staff and physicians. Social support efforts including professional mental counseling may added and work with other resources such as community services and policy makers.

Cerebral Regional Homogeneity Alternation of Pregnant Women With Antenatal Depression During the Pandemic.

Purpose: The COVID-19 epidemic has been a threat to the health of people all over the world. Various precautions during COVID-19 in China have kept a large number of people in isolation, and this has inconvenienced and placed enormous stress on pregnant women. Pregnant women are more likely to suffer from antenatal depression (ANDP) with social isolation or low social support. This research aims to investigate the neurobiological mechanisms underlying ANDP, which impedes early detection and intervention in this disorder. Methods: A total of 43 singleton pregnant women who experienced isolation were recruited, including 21 treatment-naïve ANDP patients and 22 healthy pregnant women (HPW). To explore the intrinsic cerebral activity alternations in ANDP using resting-state functional MRI (rsfMRI), we assessed the local regional homogeneity (ReHo) differences in two groups using the voxel-based whole-brain analysis. The correlation between the regional functional abnormalities and clinical variables in ANDP patients was also examined. Results: Compared with HPW, ANDP patients showed decreased ReHo in the left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, right insular and the cluster coving the right ventral temporal cortex (VTC), amygdala (AMG), and hippocampus (HIP). The Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale (EPDS) scores of ANDP patients negatively correlated with the ReHo in the right VTC, AMG, and HIP. Conclusion: Elucidating the neurobiological features of ANDP patients during COVID-19 is crucial for evolving adequate methods for early diagnosis, precaution, and intervention in a future epidemic.

Factors Associated with Resilience Among Medical Staff in Radiology Departments During The Outbreak of 2019 Novel Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19): A Cross-Sectional Study.

BACKGROUND A growing body of evidence suggests that in the face of life adversity, threats, or other major stressful events, resilience is more conducive to individual adaptation and growth. MATERIAL AND METHODS The Connor-Davidson Resilience Scale and the Chinese Perceived Stress Scale were used to evaluate the resilience and perceived stress of 600 medical staff members from the radiology departments in 32 public hospitals in Sichuan Province, China, respectively. Multiple linear regression was used to analyze factors related to resilience. RESULTS The total resilience score was 65.76±17.26, wherein the toughness dimension score was 33.61±9.52, the strength dimension score was 21.25±5.50, and the optimism dimension score was 10.91±3.15. There was a significant negative correlation between perceived stress and resilience (r=-0.635, P<0.001). According to multivariate analysis, the total perceived stress score (ß=-1.318, P<0.001), gender (ß=-4.738, P<0.001), knowledge of COVID-19 (ß=2.884, P=0.043), knowledge of COVID-19 protective measures (ß=3.260, P=0.042), and availability of adequate protective materials (ß=-1.268, P=0.039) were independent influencing factors for resilience. CONCLUSIONS The resilience level of the medical staff in the radiology departments during the outbreak of COVID-19 was generally low, particularly regarding toughness. More attention should be paid to resilience influence factors such as high perceived stress, female gender, lack of understanding of COVID-19 and protective measures, and lack of protective materials, and targeted interventions should be undertaken to improve the resilience level of the medical staff in the radiology departments during the outbreak of COVID-19.