Ravaldi, C.; Mosconi, L.; Bonaiuti, R.; Vannacci, A. The Emotional Landscape of Pregnancy and Postpartum during the COVID-19 Pandemic in Italy: A Mixed-Method Analysis Using Artificial Intelligence. J. Clin. Med.2023, 12, 6140.
Ravaldi, C.; Mosconi, L.; Bonaiuti, R.; Vannacci, A. The Emotional Landscape of Pregnancy and Postpartum during the COVID-19 Pandemic in Italy: A Mixed-Method Analysis Using Artificial Intelligence. J. Clin. Med. 2023, 12, 6140.
Ravaldi, C.; Mosconi, L.; Bonaiuti, R.; Vannacci, A. The Emotional Landscape of Pregnancy and Postpartum during the COVID-19 Pandemic in Italy: A Mixed-Method Analysis Using Artificial Intelligence. J. Clin. Med.2023, 12, 6140.
Ravaldi, C.; Mosconi, L.; Bonaiuti, R.; Vannacci, A. The Emotional Landscape of Pregnancy and Postpartum during the COVID-19 Pandemic in Italy: A Mixed-Method Analysis Using Artificial Intelligence. J. Clin. Med. 2023, 12, 6140.
Abstract
The COVID-19 pandemic affected the perinatal emotional landscape in Italy, a country with high mortality and strict lockdown. This study explored the emotions and challenges of pregnant and post-partum women during the pandemic, using AI-based mixed-methods. The study analyzed 1774 women from the national survey COVID-ASSESS: 1136 pregnant and 638 post-partum. The survey had qualitative questions on emotions and feelings related to birth, communication with healthcare professionals, media, and peers and family. We used natural language processing and machine learning to classify emotions, identify themes, and extract citations from the data. Fear and anxiety replaced joy as dominant emotions during the pandemic: trust and joy decreased by 49.3% and 36.4%, respectively, while sadness and fear increased by 52.3% and 49.3%, respectively. The pandemic also induced loneliness, isolation, frustration, and anger. Women faced challenges related to birth, communication with HCPs, media, and peers and family. They also used coping strategies such as self-care, news limitation, and tried to cultivate gratitude and hope. The study provides a comprehensive exploration of the perinatal emotional landscape of Italian women during the pandemic. The findings underscore the significant psychological impact of the pandemic, and also highlights women’s resilience and coping strategies.
Keywords
COVID-19 and pregnancy; management; prevention
Subject
Medicine and Pharmacology, Obstetrics and Gynaecology
Copyright:
This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
