Impact of Facebook on Social Support and Emotional Wellbeing in Perinatal Women during Three Waves of the COVID-19 Pandemic in Mexico: A Descriptive Qualitative Study

Ma. Asunción Lara, Laura Navarrete (), Erica Medina, Pamela Patiño and Marcela Tiburcio
Additional contact information
Ma. Asunción Lara: Dirección de Investigaciones Epidemiológicas y Psicosociales, Instituto Nacional de Psiquiatría Ramón de la Fuente Muñiz, Ciudad de México 14370, México
Laura Navarrete: Dirección de Investigaciones Epidemiológicas y Psicosociales, Instituto Nacional de Psiquiatría Ramón de la Fuente Muñiz, Ciudad de México 14370, México
Erica Medina: Dirección de Investigaciones Epidemiológicas y Psicosociales, Instituto Nacional de Psiquiatría Ramón de la Fuente Muñiz, Ciudad de México 14370, México
Pamela Patiño: Dirección de Investigaciones Epidemiológicas y Psicosociales, Instituto Nacional de Psiquiatría Ramón de la Fuente Muñiz, Ciudad de México 14370, México
Marcela Tiburcio: Dirección de Investigaciones Epidemiológicas y Psicosociales, Instituto Nacional de Psiquiatría Ramón de la Fuente Muñiz, Ciudad de México 14370, México

IJERPH, 2023, vol. 20, issue 3, 1-17

Abstract: The COVID-19 pandemic affected the mental health of pregnant and postpartum women in unique, unprecedented ways. Given the impossibility of delivering face-to-face care, digital platforms emerged as a first-line solution to provide emotional support. This qualitative study sought to examine the role that a closed Facebook group (CFG) played in providing social support for Mexican perinatal women and to explore the concerns they shared during the COVID-19 pandemic. A thematic analysis of all the posts in the CFG yielded nine main categories: (1) COVID-19 infections in participants and their families; (2) fear of infection; (3) infection prevention; (4) health services; (5) vaccines; (6) concerns about non-COVID-19-related health care; (7) effects of social isolation; (8) probable mental health cases; and (9) work outside the home. Participants faced stressful situations and demands that caused intense fear and worry. In addition to household tasks and perinatal care, they were responsible for adopting COVID-19 preventive measures and caring for infected family members. The main coping mechanism was their religious faith. The CFG was found to be a useful forum for supporting perinatal women, where they could share concerns, resolve doubts, and obtain information in a warm, compassionate, and empathetic atmosphere. Health providers would be advised to seek new social media to improve the quality of their services.

Keywords: perinatal; COVID-19; Facebook (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/20/3/2472/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/20/3/2472/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:20:y:2023:i:3:p:2472-:d:1051614

Access Statistics for this article

IJERPH is currently edited by Ms. Jenna Liu

More articles in IJERPH from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().