Health Care Seeking Behavior of the Pregnant Women during COVID 19 Pandemic

Background: Pregnant women are one of the vulnerable groups who are impacted negatively by coronavirus pandemic (COVID 19). Scarce researches exist about their health care seeking behavior during COVID 19 pandemic. The aim of this study was to assess health care seeking behavior of the pregnant women during COVID 19 pandemic. Subjects and Method: Design: A descriptive study design was used. Setting: This study was carried out at 3 antenatal clinics of Obstetric and Gynecological departments at Tanta University Hospital affiliated to Ministry of High Education, as well as El-Menshawy General Hospital and El-Mahalla Alkobra General Hospital affiliated to Ministry of Health and Population. Subjects: A purposive sample of 300 pregnant women who met the inclusion criteria was included in the study. Tools of data collection: Four tools were used for data collection: Tool (I): Structured interview schedule of socio-demographic characteristics, and medical and reproductive history of the studied pregnant women, Tool (II): Pregnant women's perception / awareness regarding infection with COVID 19 pandemic during pregnancy, Tool (III): Pregnant women's knowledge regarding antenatal care during COVID 19 pandemic, and Tool (IV): Pregnant women's health care seeking behavior during COVID-19 pandemic. Results: A statistically significant positive relation observed regarding knowledge, perception and health care seeking behavior of the studied pregnant women during COVID 19 pandemic (r, = 0.275, P = 0.000**). Conclusion: COVID-19 affected pregnant women health care seeking behavior both directly and indirectly on access to the timely needed appropriate high-quality care, with a statistically significant relation between their knowledge, perception and health care seeking behavior. Recommendations: It is important to increase pregnant women awareness regarding the significance of seeking maternal health services during the COVID 19 pandemic to decrease maternal and neonatal mortality and morbidity rates. Additionally, programs and practical actions should be integrated to improve the quality of care provided to pregnant women particularly during the critical time of COVID 19 pandemic.