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Maternal Perinatal Mental Health in the Context of the COVID-19 Pandemic

Wed, April 7, 4:20 to 5:50pm EDT (4:20 to 5:50pm EDT), Virtual

Session Type: Paper Symposium

Abstract

Maternal mental health challenges are common in the perinatal period (Fairbrother et al., 2016; Gavin et al., 2005). These challenges have been exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic (Ceulemans et al., 2020), which has increased social isolation, reduced access to social and medical health supports, and increased maternal concern about the health and safety of loved ones. Utilizing data from cohorts representing areas of the US that have been differentially impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic, the current symposium explores maternal perinatal mental health in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic. A common theme across studies is the importance of social support for pregnant and new mothers.

The first study investigated trajectories of perinatal depressive symptoms. COVID-19 appears to disturb the typical developmental trajectory of perinatal depressive symptoms; however, there is meaningful heterogeneity in these trajectories. Withdrawal of social support appears to be important for distinguishing individuals at highest risk. The second study examines trajectories of maternal emotional dysregulation and social support over time, and finds that as maternal social support increases, maternal emotional dysregulation decreases. The third study describes the types of social supports that women have been able to access during the COVID-19 pandemic, and finds that virtual support (phone, text, email, video calls) is an important outlet for new mothers. The fourth study explores the effects of one such virtual support, online support group utilization. Encouragingly, they found that individuals who were engaging in online support groups improved in their depressive symptoms (while those without virtual supports worsened).

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