Perspectives of pregnant women with COVID-19 on childbirth care practices

Abstract

Background: The COVID-19 pandemic has aggravated childbirth care practices.

Objective: To understand the perception of pregnant women with COVID-19 on the applicability of best childbirth care practices.

Methodology: Exploratory and descriptive study, with a mixed methods approach, carried out with 23 pregnant women with COVID-19 in a Brazilian public hospital.

Results: The general corpus comprised 23 texts with 249 Text Segments (TS). The analyzed content was categorized into five classes: COVID-19 in the context of NB health, with 56 TS (22.49%); Humanized childbirth and COVID-19, with 51 TS (20.48%); The uncertainty of maternal and fetal risks, with 39 TS (15.66%); Childbirth experience in the COVID-19 pandemic, with 67 TS (26.91%); and Knowledge about symptoms and prevention against COVID-19, with 36 TS (14.46%).

Conclusion: Pregnant women have little knowledge about the policy and their right to autonomy in labor and postpartum, evidencing inadequate practices during the pandemic.