Quality of Prenatal Care Services During the COVID-19 in Southern Iran

During the COVID- 19 pandemic, the quality of prenatal care was affected considerably and online prenatal care emerged as a safe and effective method. This study aims to assess the quality of prenatal care during the pandemic in the south of Iran.

 This is a descriptive analytical study that was carried out in Bandar Abbas city in August 2021 for four months. Participants were 400 pregnant women referred to health centers who received prenatal care services by telephone or in person at least three times and had health records. Data collection tools were the quality of prenatal care questionnaire and a researcher-made prenatal care delivery checklist. 

The mean age of participants was 28.1±5.9 years. Less than 10% of them received full routine prenatal care. Weight measurement was the most frequent service provided to mothers (96.8%) while oral and dental health education (33.3%) was the least frequent service. Pregnant women had the highest and lowest prenatal care quality perception score in dimensions of information sharing (3.8±0.47) and approachability (2.0±0.69), respectively. Low level of education (β=0.83, 95% CI: 0.5-0.9, P= 0001) and history of infertility (β=-0.32, 95% CI: -0.29-0.64, P= 0.008) were the two variables predicting the perceived prenatal care quality.

The quality of prenatal care provided to pregnant mothers in southern Iran during the pandemic is not favorable. The use of community-based midwifery system, gaining mothers’ trust in online services and telephone follow-up, and improving online prenatal care infrastructure should among the priorities of decision makers in the health sector.