An Integrated Approach to Improve Maternal Mental Health and Well-Being During the COVID-19 Crisis
Affiliation
Univ Arizona, Mel & Enid Zuckerman Coll Publ Hlth, Dept Hlth Promot SciUniv Arizona, Coll Med, Div Infect Dis
Univ Arizona, Coll Med, Dept Family & Community Med
Issue Date
2020-11-24Keywords
pregnancymaternal mental health
self-care (MeSH)
social support (MeSH term)
health system
COVID-19 pandemic
Metadata
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FRONTIERS MEDIA SACitation
Shidhaye, R., Madhivanan, P., Shidhaye, P., & Krupp, K. (2020). An integrated approach to improve maternal mental health and well-being during the CoViD-19 crisis. Frontiers in Psychiatry, 11.Journal
FRONTIERS IN PSYCHIATRYRights
Copyright © 2020 Shidhaye, Madhivanan, Shidhaye and Krupp. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY).Collection Information
This item from the UA Faculty Publications collection is made available by the University of Arizona with support from the University of Arizona Libraries. If you have questions, please contact us at repository@u.library.arizona.edu.Abstract
The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic has led to disruption of normal life across the globe, severely affecting the already vulnerable populations such as the pregnant women. Maternal mental health and well-being is a public health priority and the evidence about the impact of COVID-19 on mental health status of pregnant women is gradually emerging. The findings of the recently published studies suggest that increased risk perception about contracting COVID-19, reduced social support, increase in domestic violence, disruption of antenatal care, and economic consequences of COVID-19 mitigation strategies can lead to adverse mental health outcomes in antenatal period. There is a significant increase in antenatal depression and anxiety since the onset of COVID-19 and social determinants of health (e.g., younger age, lower education, lower income) are associated with these poor outcomes. In this paper, we propose an integrated approach to improve the mental health and well-being of pregnant women. Physical activity and/or mind-body interventions like yoga can be practiced as self-care interventions by pregnant women. Despite social distancing being the current norm, efforts should be made to strengthen social support. Evidence-based interventions for perinatal depression should be integrated within the health system and stepped, collaborative care using non-specialist health workers as key human resource be utilized to improve access to mental health services. Use of digital platforms and smartphone enabled delivery of services has huge potential to further improve the access to care. Most importantly, the COVID-19 related policy guidelines should categorically include maternal mental health and well-being as a priority area.Note
Open access journalISSN
1664-0640PubMed ID
33329148Version
Final published versionae974a485f413a2113503eed53cd6c53
10.3389/fpsyt.2020.598746
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Except where otherwise noted, this item's license is described as Copyright © 2020 Shidhaye, Madhivanan, Shidhaye and Krupp. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY).