Changes associated with the COVID-19 pandemic on postpartum screening results in Ontario, Canada: The healthy babies healthy children screening tool
Ye (Hailey) Jin, Daniel J. Corsi, Nicole F. Roberts, Ann E. Sprague, Marco Solmi, Gayatri Saraf, Jasmine Gandhi, Ian Colman, Mark C. Walker & Jess G. Fiedorowicz
Most research on how the COVID-19 pandemic affects mothers/parents with newborns have mainly looked at their mental health and have only focused on one point in time. Instead, this study explored how the pandemic affected Ontario parents’ ability to care for their babies over time using the Health Babies Health Children screening tool. Data for this study was drawn from a province-wide screening program in Ontario that assessed pandemic-related changes once mothers/parents were discharged from hospital following a birth. This included both mental health and other behaviour outcomes.
We found that before and at the start of the pandemic, very few parents had trouble taking care of their babies. While there wasn't a major change in the difficulty in parenting or caring for children, we noted a significant change in the pace at which these difficulties were increasing, suggesting a shift in the trend. In our analysis, we also observed over time: i) worsening complications during labour and delivery during the pandemic; 2) improvements in finding a support person to help with caring for children; 3) improvements in support for newcomers; 4) a decrease in concerns about money to pay for housing/rent, food, clothing, utilities, and other basic necessities.
The results of this study suggest that there may not have been any major changes in mothers’/parents’ ability to care for their children during the COVID-19 pandemic. However, it is possible that the negative impacts or stressors of the pandemic were reduced by work from home accommodations and improved social policies and programs during this time.
To read this article in full, visit: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/birt.12835.