The relationship between common mental disorders (CMDs), food insecurity and domestic violence in pregnant women during the COVID-19 lockdown in Cape Town, South Africa

TY - JOUR

T1 - The relationship between common mental disorders (CMDs), food insecurity and domestic violence in pregnant women during the COVID-19 lockdown in Cape Town, South Africa

AU - Abrahams, Zulfa

AU - Boisits, Sonet

AU - Schneider, Marguerite

AU - Prince, Martin

AU - Lund, Crick

N1 - Funding Information: The ASSET study is funded by the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) Global Health Research Unit on Health System Strengthening in Sub-Saharan Africa, King’s College London (GHRU 16/136/54). Publisher Copyright: © 2021, The Author(s). Copyright: Copyright 2021 Elsevier B.V., All rights reserved.

PY - 2021

Y1 - 2021

N2 - Purpose: We aimed to explore the relationship between common mental disorders (CMDs), food insecurity and experiences of domestic violence among pregnant women attending public sector midwife obstetric units and basic antenatal care clinics in Cape Town during the COVID-19 lockdown. Methods: Perinatal women, attending 14 healthcare facilities in Cape Town, were enrolled in the study during baseline data collection before the COVID-19 lockdown. During the lockdown period, fieldworkers telephonically contacted the perinatal women who were enrolled in the study and had provided contact details. The following data were collected from those who consented to the study: socio-demographic information, mental health assessment, food insecurity status and experiences of domestic violence. Poisson regression was used to model the associations of a number of risk factors with the occurrence of CMDs. Results: Of the 2149 women enrolled in the ASSET study, 885 consented to telephonic interviews. We found that 12.5% of women had probable CMDs and 43% were severely food insecure. Psychological distress increased significantly during the lockdown period, compared to before the COVID-19 outbreak. Using multivariate Poisson regression modelling, we showed that the risk of CMDs was increased in women who were severely food insecure or who experienced psychological or sexual abuse. Conclusions: This study provides evidence of the effect of the COVID-19 lockdown on the mental health status of perinatal women living in low-resource settings in Cape Town and highlights how a crisis such as the COVID-19 lockdown amplifies the psycho-social risk factors associated with CMDs in perinatal women.

AB - Purpose: We aimed to explore the relationship between common mental disorders (CMDs), food insecurity and experiences of domestic violence among pregnant women attending public sector midwife obstetric units and basic antenatal care clinics in Cape Town during the COVID-19 lockdown. Methods: Perinatal women, attending 14 healthcare facilities in Cape Town, were enrolled in the study during baseline data collection before the COVID-19 lockdown. During the lockdown period, fieldworkers telephonically contacted the perinatal women who were enrolled in the study and had provided contact details. The following data were collected from those who consented to the study: socio-demographic information, mental health assessment, food insecurity status and experiences of domestic violence. Poisson regression was used to model the associations of a number of risk factors with the occurrence of CMDs. Results: Of the 2149 women enrolled in the ASSET study, 885 consented to telephonic interviews. We found that 12.5% of women had probable CMDs and 43% were severely food insecure. Psychological distress increased significantly during the lockdown period, compared to before the COVID-19 outbreak. Using multivariate Poisson regression modelling, we showed that the risk of CMDs was increased in women who were severely food insecure or who experienced psychological or sexual abuse. Conclusions: This study provides evidence of the effect of the COVID-19 lockdown on the mental health status of perinatal women living in low-resource settings in Cape Town and highlights how a crisis such as the COVID-19 lockdown amplifies the psycho-social risk factors associated with CMDs in perinatal women.

KW - COVID-19

KW - Depression

KW - Food insecurity

KW - Maternal

KW - Mental health

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85110835708&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.1007/s00127-021-02140-7

DO - 10.1007/s00127-021-02140-7

M3 - Article

AN - SCOPUS:85110835708

SN - 0933-7954

JO - Social Psychiatry and Psychiatric Epidemiology

JF - Social Psychiatry and Psychiatric Epidemiology

ER -