A Survey of the Level of Fear from COVID-19 and the Affecting Factors in Pregnant Women in Bam in 2021

 The rapid spread of the COVID-19 disease has led to fear and anxiety in pregnant women. While extreme fear and anxiety in pregnant women leads to negative consequences in mothers and fetuses. This study was conducted to determine the status of fear of COVID-19 and its related factors among pregnant women in the city of Bam.

 This descriptive and cross-sectional study was conducted on 161 pregnant women referring to women's clinics of Bam University of Medical Sciences in 2021. The participants were selected by convenience sampling method. Demographic information form and women's fear of COVID-19 questionnaire were used to collect data. The data was analyzed by SPSS software version 22 and with descriptive (mean, standard deviation, frequency and percentage) and inferential (independent t-test, one-way ANOVA and linear regression) tests at a significance level of p<0.05.

 In this study, 161 pregnant women between the ages of 21 and 25 participated, most of them were housewives (95%), had less than diploma education (49.7%) and were in the third trimester of pregnancy (72.7%). The average score of fear from COVID-19 was 23.39±5.20 (out of 35 scores). There was a significant relationship between the fear of COVID-19 with the level of education and the history of the disease (p<0.05).

 The findings showed that the fear of COVID-19 in pregnant women was moderate to high. Furthermore, the level of fear was related with factors such as level of education, economic status, and history of illness, which requires interventions according to these conditions. Therefore, due to the harmful consequences of fear and anxiety on the health status of the mothers and fetuses, it seems necessary to hold training courses to effectively deal with fear in this group