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Item Perinatal mental health and women's lived experience of the COVID-19 pandemic: A scoping review of the qualitative literature 2020-2021.(Elsevier B.V., 2023-05-09) Jin Y; Murray LBACKGROUND: The COVID-19 pandemic resulted in global physical distancing restrictions and lockdown orders. Despite the clear documentation of increased mental distress amongst adult populations during the pandemic, there is limited evidence about the mental health challenges of people in the perinatal period (pregnancy, birth and postpartum). The aim of this review is to summarise the qualitative research about women's lived experience and emotional wellbeing during the COVID-19 pandemic. METHODS: A comprehensive search strategy was developed. Twenty peer-reviewed qualitative research articles published in English from January 1, 2020, to December 15, 2021, were included. Data synthesis outlined the evidence from common themes in a narrative format. RESULTS: Themes during pregnancy included: (1) information seeking: anxiety and fear; (2) experiencing isolation and disruptions to my social support; (3) 'Going it alone' in pregnancy care; (4) anticipatory grieving and despair; (5) finding 'silver linings' in social restrictions. One key theme during birth was "birthing in a crisis". Themes during postpartum included: (1) isolating 'Early motherhood is much like lockdown'; (2) breastfeeding: triumphs and tribulations; (3) facing disruptions during postpartum care; (4) 'Affecting us for years to come' - COVID-19 was not the only trauma; (5) 'silver linings' during postpartum care. CONCLUSIONS: This review provides important insights into how experiences of isolation, decreased social support and adaptions to maternity services affect women's mental health. Maternity services should consider how perinatal mental health support may be integrated into the care of women who may still be required to isolate or have reduced visitors during their perinatal care. STATEMENT OF SIGNIFICANCE: The restrictions and disruptions to maternity care due to the COVID-19 pandemic were likely to impact the mental health of women in the perinatal period (pregnancy, birth and postpartum). What is already known is that public health measures due to COVID-19 increased the prevalence of common perinatal mental disorders (CPMDs) and exacerbated common risk factors for CPMDs (i.e., poor social support). WHAT THIS PAPER ADDS: The qualitative research with women in the perinatal period during the pandemic provides unique insights into how these events impacted perinatal mental and emotional health. In particular, the ways that global physical distancing measures and maternity care adaptations contributed to women's feelings of distress, isolation, and depression/despair. Silver linings such as more uninterrupted time with immediate family were also identified.Item Digital Health Literacy About COVID-19 as a Factor Mediating the Association Between the Importance of Online Information Search and Subjective Well-Being Among University Students in Vietnam(Frontiers Media S.A., 2021-09-27) Nguyen LHT; Vo MTH; Tran LTM; Dadaczynski K; Okan O; Murray L; Van Vo T; Riper HIntroduction: Digital health literacy (DHL) has recently been proposed as a means of enabling healthy decisions for protective behavior, preventive measures, and adherence with COVID-19 policies and recommendations especially in the era of the “infodemic”. This study aimed to (1) identify COVID-19 related DHL and its association with online information seeking; (2) to elucidate COVID-19 related DHL as a mediator predictor between the importance of online information search and its association with subjective well-being among Vietnamese university students. Methods: A cross-sectional web-based survey was used to elicit the responses of Vietnamese students over 2 consecutive weeks (from April 25 to May 9, 2020, n = 1,003, 70.1% female students, mean age 21.4 ± 3.1). The online survey questionnaire collected data on the sociodemographic characteristics of participants, DHL about COVID-19, information seeking behavior, and subjective well-being. Mediation analysis was conducted using the importance of searching COVID-19 related information as independent variables, subjective well-being as a dependent variable, and DHL as a mediator variable. Results: Among 1,003 students, the mean (SD) of DHL related to COVID-19 was 2.87 ± 0.32. In the survey, 87.2% of the students reported sufficient well-being, while almost 13% reported low or very low well-being. The findings also indicated that search engines were the most popular platform for information seeking by Vietnamese students (95.3%) and 92.8% of participants had searched for information related to the current spread of COVID-19. Not searching for hygiene regulation as part of infection control and an average level of information satisfaction were associated with limited DHL (p < 0.05). The importance of online information searching related to COVID-19 increased the subjective well-being of students significantly and limited DHL (p < 0.05). DHL was found to mediate the relationship between the importance of online information searching and the subjective well-being of students. Conclusion: The finding provides insight into DHL about COVID-19 among university students, and their ability to find, understand, appraise, and use online health related information during lockdown throughout the first COVID-19 pandemic wave. DHL should be highlighted as a mediating factor that enhances the positive effect of the importance of information seeking on psychological well-being. However, further studies are needed to better define the mediating role of DHL across other factors.Item Intimate partner violence during pregnancy and maternal and child health outcomes: a scoping review of the literature from low-and-middle income countries from 2016 - 2021(BioMed Central Ltd, 2022-12) Da Thi Tran T; Murray L; Van Vo TBACKGROUND: Intimate partner violence (IPV) during pregnancy is significantly associated with negative outcomes for both mother and child. Current evidence indicates an association between low levels of social support and IPV, however there is less evidence from low-and-middle income countries (LMIC) than high-income countries. Globally, the COVID-19 pandemic has radically altered how women can access social support. Hence since 2020, studies investigating IPV and pregnancy have occurred within the changing social context of the pandemic. OBJECTIVE: This scoping review summarizes the evidence from LMICs about the effects of IPV during pregnancy on maternal and child health. The review includes the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on social support as mentioned in studies conducted since 2020. DESIGN: Library databases were used to identify papers from 2016 to 2021. These studies reported the maternal and child health outcomes of IPV during pregnancy, and described how social support during pregnancy, and the COVID-19 pandemic, were associated with rates of IPV during pregnancy. Observational study designs, qualitative and mixed methods studies were included. RESULTS: Twenty - six studies from 13 LMICs were included. Half (n = 13) were cross sectional studies which only collected data at one time-point. IPV during pregnancy was significantly associated with higher odds of postpartum depression, low birth weight, preterm birth and less breastfeeding in the year after birth. Lower levels of social support increased the odds of experiencing IPV during pregnancy, whilst higher levels of social support reduced antenatal anxiety and depression in women experiencing IPV during pregnancy. Of the four studies that investigated IPV during pregnancy throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, only one compared prevalence before and after the pandemic and unexpectedly reported a lower prevalence. CONCLUSIONS: Further research on the impact of IPV during pregnancy on maternal and child outcomes in LMICs is required, especially evidence from longitudinal studies investigating a wider range of outcomes. To date, there is limited evidence on the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on IPV during pregnancy in LMICs, and this should be prioritized as the pandemic continues to affect women's access to social support globally.