Narrative Analysis of Childbearing Experiences During the COVID-19 Pandemic
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Abstract
Purpose:
The COVID-19 pandemic has disrupted health care delivery and services around the world causing rapid changes to maternity care protocols and pregnant women to give birth with tight restrictions and significant uncertainties. There is a gap in evidence about expectant and new mothers' experiences with birthing during the pandemic. We sought to describe and understand pregnant and new mothers' lived experiences during the COVID-19 pandemic using authentic birth stories.
Study Design and Methods:
Using a narrative analysis framework, we extracted relevant YouTube birth stories using predetermined search terms and inclusion criteria. Mothers' birth stories were narrated in their second or third trimester or those who had recently given birth during the pandemic. Birth stories were analyzed using an inductive and deductive approach to capture different and salient aspects of the birthing experience.
Results:
N = 83 birth stories were analyzed. Within these birth stories, four broad themes and 13 subthemes were identified. Key themes included a sense of loss, hospital experiences, experiences with health care providers, and unique experiences during birth and postpartum. The birth stories revealed that the COVID-19 pandemic brought unexpected circumstances, both positive and negative, that had an impact on mothers' overall birthing experience.
Clinical Implications:
Results provided a detailed description of women's lived experience with giving birth during the COVID-19 pandemic. Maternity nurses should try to provide clear communication and compassionate patient-centered care to relieve women's anxieties about uncertain and unpredictable policy changes on COVID-19 as the pandemic continues to evolve.
Article activity feed
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SciScore for 10.1101/2020.12.28.20248958: (What is this?)
Please note, not all rigor criteria are appropriate for all manuscripts.
Table 1: Rigor
Institutional Review Board Statement not detected. Randomization not detected. Blinding not detected. Power Analysis not detected. Sex as a biological variable Inclusion and exclusion criteria: Videos were included in this narrative analysis if they were in English, first-person account of the birth story, and narrated by women (with or without their partners) who were either pregnant in their second or third trimester or new mothers who gave birth within the study period. Table 2: Resources
No key resources detected.
Results from OddPub: We did not detect open data. We also did not detect open code. Researchers are encouraged to share open data when possible (see Nature blog).
Results from LimitationRecogniz…SciScore for 10.1101/2020.12.28.20248958: (What is this?)
Please note, not all rigor criteria are appropriate for all manuscripts.
Table 1: Rigor
Institutional Review Board Statement not detected. Randomization not detected. Blinding not detected. Power Analysis not detected. Sex as a biological variable Inclusion and exclusion criteria: Videos were included in this narrative analysis if they were in English, first-person account of the birth story, and narrated by women (with or without their partners) who were either pregnant in their second or third trimester or new mothers who gave birth within the study period. Table 2: Resources
No key resources detected.
Results from OddPub: We did not detect open data. We also did not detect open code. Researchers are encouraged to share open data when possible (see Nature blog).
Results from LimitationRecognizer: We detected the following sentences addressing limitations in the study:This study, however, is not without limitations. First, utilizing YouTube birth stories provides limited sociodemographic or other background information of the participants that may have helped provide rich insights into our findings. Our sample may not reflect women’s viewpoints with low socioeconomic status or rural areas as studies show a substantial digital divide between high versus low socioeconomic groups.26 Lastly, as with every cross-sectional study, our study only provides a snapshot of the women’s lives that may not reflect other variables that may impact their overall birth experiences. Despite these limitations, our study provides important contributions from a global perspective to the limited knowledge of the pandemic’s impact on pregnant and new moms.
Results from TrialIdentifier: No clinical trial numbers were referenced.
Results from Barzooka: We did not find any issues relating to the usage of bar graphs.
Results from JetFighter: We did not find any issues relating to colormaps.
Results from rtransparent:- Thank you for including a conflict of interest statement. Authors are encouraged to include this statement when submitting to a journal.
- Thank you for including a funding statement. Authors are encouraged to include this statement when submitting to a journal.
- No protocol registration statement was detected.
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