Introduction
Aims and objectives
Methods
Participants
Study recruitment
Data collection
Initial topics based on literature and study aims |
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•Young parents’ experiences during COVID-19 pandemic ○ Including pregnancy, giving birth and postpartum |
•Young parents’ perceptions of their health, social and emotional needs during COVID-19 pandemic |
•Young parents’ perceptions of support and ways to cope during COVID-19 pandemic |
Additional topics specifically addressed in interviews |
•Young parents’ use of online and digital resources |
•Impact of COVID-19 pandemic on young parents’ mental health |
Data analysis
Reflexivity, research group and context
Ethical considerations
Results
Participants
Variables | N |
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Age | |
16–20 years | 5 |
21–22 years | 4 |
23–24 years | 11 |
> 24 years | 1 |
Living situation | |
Alone | 2 |
With child(ren) or partner | 5c |
With partner and child(ren) | 11 |
With family/parents and child(ren) | 3 |
Relationship with partner | |
In relationship with partner | 14 |
Separated from partner | 7 |
Number of children at time of interview | |
Pregnant with 1st child and/or has one child | 11 |
More than one child and/or pregnant with next child | 10 |
Parenting statusb | |
First time parent during COVID-19 pandemic | 11 |
Pregnant at time of interview | 4 |
Pregnant during COVID-19 pandemica | 16 |
Gave birth during COVID-19 pandemica | 11 |
Postnatal during COVID-19 pandemica | 19 |
Primary theme | Sub-themes |
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1. COVID-19 specific anxieties and stressors | 1.1 Consequences of contracting COVID-19 |
1.2 High levels of uncertainty | |
2. Loneliness, isolation and lack of social support | 2.1 Navigating pregnancy alone |
2.2 Parenting in isolation | |
3. Disruptions to perinatal care | 3.1 Availability of professional support and care |
3.2 Communicating with professionals | |
3.3 Phone, online and alternative support from professionals |
Theme 1: COVID-19 specific anxieties and stressors
(Participant 5, mother, aged 20 years).“Because of COVID I don’t know whether to send her to nursery or not. I don’t know whether that’s putting my new-born at more risk. It’s really a difficult time and I don’t have anyone to ask really.”
(Participant 4, father, aged 24 years)“They said if your partner catches Coronavirus, then she could potentially lose her baby. […] I’ve been stuck indoors, not going out, making sure that the baby’s health is unaffected as a result […] my mum also said, don’t go out at all, so, I didn’t go out since July, August, September, just before Christmas, I didn’t go out at all, I only went out when necessary.”
(Participant 4, father, aged 24 years)“I was no longer in work at the time. I had to claim benefits. So, as a result, I struggled to put food on the table, which I felt a lot of guilt, a lot of shame…that is why we suffered”
(Participant 8, mother, aged 22 years)“It was a bit – everything was all over the place and it was a big change which was hard to obviously try and change everything at once, and then it was like you got used to one change and then something changed, and then it was like this second time around, whatever was said on the first time doesn’t matter because [everything changed again]”
(Participant 13, mother, aged 22 years)“I had to go on to formula but it was a proper struggle trying to find a formula, you’d have to go to probably about 10 shops before you found it. So, I pretty much had everyone I knew out looking for it, so that was stressful, because there was nothing else I could give her.”
Theme 2: Loneliness, isolation and lack of social support
(Participant 16, mother, aged 24 years)“I think because I’m doing it on my own and I get worked up, and I get stressed out,– I’m looking at the scan screen and I keep looking back and forth and I think that worries me more, because he [the father] is not there to give me that support and he’s not holding my hand. […] It was the waiting on my own to get the test done and everything,[…], and then having to come home and tell him [the father] about the extra fluid, it literally got me to the point where I broke down before I even told him I was that worked up about it.”
(Participant 11, mother, aged 23 years)“It was just all on my shoulders, like, going to the appointments and things. Whereas, a problem shared is a problem halved. Whereas if there was an issue at any of the scans it would have been mine and my partner’s problem, not just mine.”
(Participant 7, mother, aged 20 years)“I would have to hear the bad news with this baby, and then go home and have to tell my partner the bad news again. If we were there together it would have just been one lot of bad news whereas if I have to repeat it, it’s – it gets a lot.” […] He had a lot of questions and I just didn’t really have the answers to them.”
(Participant 15, mother, aged 18 years)“I was really hoping for him to be more connected with the pregnancy, but he wasn’t really, because he wasn’t really involved. He couldn’t even come to the Midwife appointments […] with my first pregnancy, he’d be a lot more involved. […] my partner used to swap his shift to come to appointments, but it’s only a phone call appointment, you know, there’s no point him swapping his shift for that kind of thing.”
(Participant 9, mother, aged 22 years)“When they couldn’t find the heartbeat and stuff like that, it was important that he was there, but he couldn’t be, so that was hard in itself because that then made his depression worse because he was then thinking something is wrong with the baby, and everything.”
(Participant 19, father, aged 24 years)“Very, very- like a very anxious situation. It was- was like I’d always stand outside the hospital. But I’d never put my phone away. Just sat there hoping that like if anything went wrong, she’d get the contact- find a way of contacting me somehow. But yes, there was definitely a lot more anxiety with the hospital scans. Because I’d still be there. I’d still take her to every appointment but I’d just be stood outside.”
(Participant 10, father, aged 27 years)“My partner wasn’t allowed her phone on, it would have been nice if they would have been able to be like “Do you want to video it” so that they can record it, so even if it was like FaceTime or something but there were none of those options.”
(Participant 2, mother, aged 22 years)“I became isolated in my home, I already suffered with post-natal depression, after having my son. So, when COVID hit, it just got worse I couldn’t get any support from anywhere, I was a new mum, first time mum as well. So, I had no experience of being a mum, I had no idea what I was supposed to do, am I doing something bad, am I doing something wrong; are other mums feeling like I’m feeling, are their kids doing what my kid’s doing? So, when COVID happened, I couldn’t experience it with any mums, I couldn’t see my family to get advice from.”
(Participant 12, mother, aged 23 years).“The rest are like same age as me and they’re not, they’re not having kids so I think it was quite nice to meet those people [other parents] even though they are older than me […]. I think it helps me feel more confident in my choices. Like my friends have helped me because, they’re friends that I met at baby group. They both have children before so I think they really helped me with setting routines and thinking about weening and stuff like that because I had no idea.”
(Participant 12, mother, aged 23 years).“I was just really not coping well at all and I just kind of thought for the sake of myself I need to get out of this house. That was probably the best thing I did. Also horrible because I just felt like the police were coming after me all the time.”
(Participant 3, mother, aged 23 years)“Just making sure that somebody has at least one concrete support network that they can turn to […] just somebody to speak to because it does get difficult.”
Theme 3: Disruptions to perinatal care
(Participant 8, mother, aged 22 years)“It probably would have been nice to know that like we were thought about. It just felt like we were just, it probably felt like that for everyone but it just felt like we were all forgotten like just stay at home, don’t be seen you know. […] It was just like they’d vanished. I mean still now, over a year later, and I’ve still not heard anything.”
(Participant 9, mother, aged 22 years)“She actually was in touch with me throughout the whole pregnancy. I mean she’s very supportive. I literally take my hat off to her, she’s always been there for me.”
(Participant 8, mother, aged 22 years)“It was the social side of things and getting advice. Obviously, you could access health visitors, and there was all sorts of services, like stop smoking, you could get food parcels, everything pretty much in need would be under one roof and obviously that’s no longer available now.”
(Participant 3, mother, aged 23 years)“It’s just a bit difficult because with a baby, it’s all about trying to stimulate the development, stimulate the brain and things like that. But we couldn’t attend any baby sensory classes, we couldn’t just go and speak to the health visitor or have the health visitor visit. We can’t go to the sessions and things like that because everywhere is closed. So, it’s a bit rubbish, he doesn’t get the social development side.”
(Participant 5, mother, aged 20 years)“Honestly, I’m at that point I don’t know what to do. I don’t know how to help him. I can’t even. I don’t know what to do about that. How do I get him to the point where he can see a Counsellor during these times.”
(Participant 5, mother, aged 20)“The depression then affected his ability to be a dad because he then wasn’t spending as much time as he wants to with his son because he was not getting the help that he needed to be able to do that. […] dads are not offered half as much support and it really does – if one of you is not okay then both of you are not going to be that okay..”
(Participant 8, mother, aged 22)“I felt a bit **** [bad] as a parent. It was little things that wouldn’t normally matter but that’s because it was always accessible. I could just pick up the phone, she’d [health visitor] answer. I’d ring her mobile. Or I could ring the local board of health visitors and someone would get back in touch. But there’s just nothing. It was like everyone has disappeared. [... ] I mean I got more help asking Argos, online chat, how to place an order or return an order during the pandemic than I did on contacting about my child’s health.”
(Participant 15, mother, aged 18)“No, we didn’t do any of the online stuff. Partly because I’ve never heard of any in [place]. I didn’t hear of any online groups.”
(Participant 21, father aged 16 years)“Very stressful because obviously not all the time she was able to let me know how things are going because she’s sleeping and all of this. She was quite exhausted from it all. So there was one point where she text me, she goes, ‘They’re going to break my waters’, then I’ve called up the hospital and said, like what’s happening? And they basically said that they’re not planning on doing anything. So it’s sort of, I got put in a position where I didn’t know what was going on. And then I’m panicking because I feel like I’m going to miss the birth”
(Participant 8, mother, aged 22 years)“One of the issues is obviously a lot of people don’t have internet and at the time people are facing massive financial difficulties [...]. Why couldn’t they print off a questionnaire and put it to all the parents that were in contact, and you could have responded, give them a pre-paid envelope, and post it back, but it didn’t happen.”
(Participant 12, mother, aged 23 years)“She asked me all these questions and I kind of just didn’t know the answer or he wasn’t doing it and then that kind of made me feel like he was not progressing properly. It just doesn’t work over the phone like they need to see how he’s behaving. And make sure everything is basically fine and normal, because you’re on the phone it gets a bit worrying.”
(Participant 16, mother, aged 24 years)“When I spoke to the midwife and the health visitor about it they literally just gave me leaflets and a video to watch on YouTube about breastfeeding. (…) I don’t think it really helped, and I don’t think it would help new parents because it didn’t give that much information. The leaflets showed you like little diagrams but didn’t actually show you how to hold the baby or how to get him to latch on or anything.”
(Participant 8, mother, aged 22 years)“You could also just Google anything and Google would tell me an answer if I wanted to, but I really wanted to speak to the person that knew my child, and that knew what she was like and they would know what was best for her, not for an average child. And that’s obviously what they’re there for.”
(Participant 15, mother, aged 18 years)“That was probably one of the things where COVID has most affected one of my appointments because had I have been at a physical appointment, I wouldn’t have missed it… it wasn’t intentional for me to miss it, like a phone call only goes off for, what is it? Like 30 seconds and if I wasn’t at my phone at that exact minute, I can’t help that. And also, with it being a no-caller ID, I couldn’t even call back and they only tried to call once.”