Effects of COVID-19 fear and anxiety on attitudes towards complementary and alternative medicine use in women with gynecological cancer during the COVID-19 pandemic.

OBJECTIVE: Patients with gynecological cancer commonly use complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) methods to cope with the disease. However, despite the existence of treatment strategies, the effect of fear and anxiety caused by coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic on attitudes about CAM use is unclear. This study was carried out to investigate the effect of fear and anxiety experienced by patients with gynecological cancer during the COVID-19 pandemic on their attitudes towards the use of CAM. METHODS: This is a cross-sectional and descriptive study that included 177 women with gynecological cancer; participants were recruited from a social networking site for cancer patients in Turkey between June and December 2021. Data were collected using an online survey that included the Personal Information Form, the Fear of COVID-19 Scale, the Coronavirus Anxiety Scale, and the Attitude Towards Holistic Complementary and Alternative Medicine Scale. Descriptive statistics, t-test, Pearson's correlation test, and simple linear and multiple regression analyses were performed to analyze the data. RESULTS: During the pandemic, 55.4% of the participants reported using CAM methods, but only 22.6% were using CAM before the pandemic. The participants who used CAM during the pandemic also scored higher on the fear of COVID-19 and coronavirus anxiety scales (20.69 ± 5.37 and 13.09 ± 6.29, respectively) compared to the participants who did not use CAM (9.29 ± 2.72 and 6.35 ± 2.06, respectively). Fear of COVID-19 accounted for 52% of the CAM attitude score, while coronavirus anxiety accounted for 15% of the CAM attitude score. Fear of COVID-19 and coronavirus anxiety together accounted for 53% of CAM attitude. CONCLUSION: Gynecological cancer patients with high levels of COVID-19-related anxiety and fear during the pandemic used CAM more. Given that the psychological effects of the pandemic will continue in the coming years, CAM use should be evaluated as a coping strategy, especially due to the COVID-19-related anxiety and fear experienced by patients with gynecological cancer. While the rational and effective CAM methods should be supported, strategies should be developed to prevent misuse of CAM and its interference in prescribed medical treatments. Please cite this article as: Uslu-Sahan F, Yesilcinar I, Kurt G, Hancer E, Guvenc G. Effects of COVID-19 fear and anxiety on attitudes towards complementary and alternative medicine use in women with gynecological cancer during the COVID-19 pandemic. J Integr Med. 2023; 21(4): 377-384.

Anxiety during the pregnancy and affecting factors: a cross-sectional study.

PURPOSE: Studies have shown that anxiety in the perinatal period leads to preterm birth and negatively affects mother and fetus. Understanding prenatal anxiety and associated factors may help develop screening strategies to identify high-risk women needing intervention during pregnancy. The aim of this study is to determine the pregnancy-related, state, and trait anxiety in the prenatal period and affecting factors. METHODS: This descriptive study was conducted with 203 pregnant women between May 20 and November 30, 2019. Data were collected using socio-demographic and obstetrics characteristics data collection form, Pregnancy-Related Anxiety Questionnaire-Revised-2 (PRAQ-R2), and State-Trait Anxiety Inventory-I and II (STAI-I and STAI-II). RESULTS: We found statistically significant correlations between age, employment, and parity with fear of giving birth subscale of PRAQ-R2. Pregnant women's mean scale scores were 35.42 ± 9.11 for STAI-I, 42.21 ± 8.21 for STAI-II, and 25.63 ± 8.58 for PRAQ-R2. We found a positive correlation between PRAQ-R2 scale scores and STAI-I, STAI-II scale scores of pregnant women. CONCLUSIONS: Age, parity, income, planning status of the pregnancy, and employment status affected the anxiety levels of pregnant women. Assessing the anxiety with multiple validated tools helps clarify the cause of the anxiety and allows to plan appropriate interventions.

Trauma-informed care for perinatal women during the COVID-19 pandemic: A survey of nurses and midwives in Turkey.

OBJECTIVES: There is a paucity of evidence on the provision of trauma-informed care among nurses and midwives during the pandemic.Therefore, this online survey of Turkish nurses and midwives aimed to: describe reported maternal concerns and anxieties during the COVID-19 pandemic; and explore aspects of trauma-informed care for perinatal women during the COVID-19 pandemic (i.e., nurses' and midwives' knowledge, opinions, perceived competence, current practices, and implementation barriers). DESIGN: A cross-sectional descriptive survey design. SETTING AND PARTICIPANTS: A web-based survey conducted between June 2021 to December 2021. A total of 102 nurses and midwives comprised the final sample of this study. FINDINGS: The safety of COVID-19 vaccine was both the most common maternal concern (73%) and the most frequently noted maternal source of anxiety (79%) reported to nurses and midwives by perinatal women. Most nurses and midwives were knowledgeable of, held favorable opinion about, and perceived moderate competence in trauma-informed care. The most frequently provided practice was encouraging mothers to make use of their own social support system (82%). Time constrains and lack of resources were perceived as somewhat to significant barriers to providing trauma-informed care during the pandemic. CONCLUSIONS: Access to correct information related to COVID-19 vaccination is necessary to reduce maternal anxiety. Since perinatal nurses and midwives had favorable opinions concerning implementing trauma-informed care, successful strategies for mitigating the implementation barriers are essential to facilitate the provision of trauma-informed care during the pandemic.

Test/Retest Reliability of a Turkish Version of the Genetics and Genomics in Nursing Practice Survey.

Background and Purpose: The Genetics and Genomics in Nursing Practice Survey (GGNPS) was developed to evaluate the use of genetics in clinical practice. This study aimed to translate the GGNPS into Turkish and perform the test/retest reliability. Methods: A descriptive, cross-sectional research design was used to collect data. Data were collected two times with ~3-7 weeks apart by using RedCap software. Results: At Time 1, a total of 385 nurses completed the survey; at Time 2, 88 nurses completed the retest survey. Findings show that one item has a slight agreement, 9 items fair agreements and 18 items moderate agreements, and 19 items substantial agreements between Times 1 and 2. Conclusions: The Turkish version of GGNPS appears to be a reliable instrument.

Knowledge, Fear, and Anxiety Levels Among Pregnant Women During the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Cross-Sectional Study.

This study aimed to evaluate pregnant women's knowledge, fear, and anxiety levels during the coronavirus outbreak. This cross-sectional study was conducted on 170 pregnant women between May 20 and July 10, 2020. Data collection form for demographics and obstetric details, questionnaire on knowledge, attitudes, and practice toward COVID-19, and State-Trait Anxiety Inventory-I were used. The vast majority of pregnant women were afraid of being infected with the COVID-19 and causing mother-to-baby transmission. A positive correlation was found between fear of coronavirus transmission and the level of anxiety (p < .05). Risk perceptions regarding COVID-19 have affected the anxiety and knowledge levels of pregnant women. Based on the findings, knowledge levels, concerns, and fears about the risk of COVID-19 exposure have implications on the anxiety levels of pregnant women. Pregnant women experienced high stress and anxiety levels due to increased risk of COVID-19 transmission during face-to-face antenatal visits.

Genetics and genomic competency of Turkish nurses: A descriptive cross-sectional study.

BACKGROUND: Nurses have essential roles in genetic related healthcare, including risk assessment, referring individuals to genetics services, advocating for and educating individual, families, and communities who might benefit from genetic services. OBJECTIVE: To determine the genetics and genomic competency of Turkish nurses. DESIGN: A descriptive cross sectional research design was used to collect data. SETTING: Totally 385 nurses working in clinical or academic settings in Turkey were recruited between 20 January and 20 April 2020. METHODS: Data were collected using socio-demographic characteristics form and Genetics and Genomics in Nursing Practice Survey on 20 January-20 April 2020. Descriptive statistics, Kruskal Wallis, and Mann-Whitney U tests were used for data analyses. RESULTS: A total of 385 nurses participated in this study. Most, 44.9% had a BSN degree, 42.1% were clinical nurses. Of the nurses, 34.5% reported that they had genetics included in their nursing curriculum, and 74.0% intended to learn more about genetics. The mean knowledge score was 9.36/12. Gender, primary role of nurses, and whether to see patients actively in practice were the factors effecting knowledge score of nurses in genetic and genomics. CONCLUSIONS: Turkish nurses' genomics skills need additional development and integration of genomics to the nursing curriculum can be effective to decrease their knowledge gaps. Clinical nurses' genomic competency should improve to increase the nursing care quality.

Counselling and education for prenatal screening and diagnostic tests for pregnant women: Randomized controlled trial.

AIM: The aim of this study is to evaluate the effect of education and counselling on prenatal screening and diagnostic tests on pregnant women's decisional conflict, anxiety levels and attitudes towards the tests. BACKGROUND: Clinical practice guidelines recommend prenatal genetic counselling for pregnant women before participation in the tests. METHODS: A total of 210 pregnant women participated in the study by completing the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory-I, Decisional Conflict Scale, SURE Scale, Knowledge Assessment Forms, Decision Satisfaction Form and Attitudes Scale between June 2017 and March 2018. In the first stage, pregnant women were evaluated who had only prenatal genetic screening tests and in the second stage, pregnant women who had been recommended to receive diagnostic tests. The intervention group received face-to-face individual education and counselling about prenatal genetic tests. Independent samples t test, t tests and Pearson correlation tests were used. RESULTS: Education and counselling for prenatal screening tests and diagnostic tests from the first weeks of pregnancy were effective in decreasing anxiety, decisional conflict, increasing attitudes towards tests and had positive effects on pregnant women's knowledge level and decision satisfaction (P < 0.005). CONCLUSION: Prenatal genetic counselling and education are more effective if provided from the first weeks of pregnancy. Decreasing anxiety, decisional conflict and increasing knowledge levels of pregnant women are important to make informed decisions.

Interventions aiming to improve informed decision on prenatal screening and testing: A scoping review of the literature.

The aim of this scoping review was to explore interventions and their effect in facilitating decision making on prenatal screening and testing among pregnant women. This review was conducted according to the Joanna Briggs Institute Methods Manual for scoping reviews. Studies published 2000-2019 that consist of interventions to facilitate pregnant women's decision making in prenatal screening and testing were specifically reviewed. A total of 27 studies are included in this scoping review. In these studies, various methods, including face-to-face individual or group interventions, e-Health interventions, video-based interventions, written educational materials, and decision aid interventions, were developed and tested for their effectiveness in facilitating informed decision making on prenatal screening and testing. While these methods appeared to be effective, further studies involving diverse populations are needed to integrate them into practice. Genetic counselors and healthcare providers working with individuals who are referred for genetic education and counseling need to work collaboratively to facilitate informed decisions on prenatal screening of women and/or their partners.

Anxiety, depression, and knowledge level in postpartum women during the COVID-19 pandemic.

PURPOSE: This study aimed to assess anxiety, depression, and knowledge level in postpartum women during the COVID-19 pandemic. DESIGN AND METHODS: This cross-sectional study was conducted on 212 postpartum women using a web-based online survey in Ankara, Turkey. FINDINGS: The prevalence of depression was 34.0%. The mean anxiety and COVID-19 knowledge scores were 42.69 ± 9.93 and 9.69 ± 1.94, respectively. There was a statistically significant difference between the anxiety scores and depression status (p < 0.001) of women. There were statistically significant differences between fear about being infected with COVID-19 for themselves (p = 0.01) and for babies (p = 0.01) and the postpartum depression (PPD). PRACTICE IMPLICATIONS: During the COVID-19 pandemic, early detection and appropriate and timely intervention to prevent and detect anxiety and PPD are crucial to the well-being of a woman.

The impact of pregnant women's health literacy on their health-promoting lifestyle and teratogenic risk perception.

This study was conducted to determine pregnant women's health literacy level and its effect on health-promoting lifestyle and perception of teratogenic risk related to medicine. The sample of the study consisted of 326 pregnant women. Women with high health literacy have more health-promoting lifestyles and lower teratogenic risk perceptions toward using antidepressants and influenza immunization during pregnancy. This study gives baseline data on health literacy and teratogenic risk perception of medicine usage during pregnancy in Turkish women.

The identification of the relationship between the perceived social support, fatigue levels and maternal attachment during the postpartum period.

OBJECTIVE: This study aims to determinate the relationship between social support perceived by women, fatigue levels and maternal attachment in postpartum period. METHODS: The sample of this descriptive study consists of 181 women who gave birth in the study period. The data was collected by the socio-demographic characteristics forms; "Multidimensional Scale of Perceived Social Support" (MSPSS); "Multidimensional Assessment of Fatigue Scale" (MAFS) and "Maternal Attachment Scale" (MAS) on the postpartum first days and 30-40th days. RESULTS: MSPSS scores of women who had university or higher education, employed, had their first pregnancy, have 12 months or less between two pregnancies, were found to be significantly higher than others. MAS scores of women at the end of the postpartum first month were significantly increased. MAFS scores of women at the end of the postpartum first month were significantly decreased. The correlation between the fatigue levels and maternal attachment levels at the end of the postpartum first month was found to be negative and significant. CONCLUSION: In the postpartum period, the care of the mother should include social support, maternal attachment and fatigue assessment. Mothers should be encouraged to use social support resources. The continuity of social support systems should be provided.