{"doi":"10.1007/s10995-024-04026-x","title":"The Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Pregnancy, Birth Experiences, and Mental Health: Voices from Women in Puerto Rico","abstract":"The specific aims of the project are: (1) Examine the impact of COVID-19 on pregnancy experiences and outcomes; (2) Examine the mental health impact of COVID-19 in pregnant women and mothers of children 12 months or younger; (3) Identify risk and protective factors among this population in Puerto Rico. Participants were recruited from the Puerto Rico Team for Exploring Contamination Threats (PROTECT) Superfund Program, which is composed of pregnant women and mothers from the northern karst region of Puerto Rico. The research had a mixed methods approach with a quantitative survey (n = 184) and qualitative interviews (n = 10); data collection was done in virtual mode. Findings from the qualitative interviews highlight the experiences regarding access to healthcare services, pregnancy and birth experiences, social support, and mental health during the pandemic among women with young children. These narratives serve to illustrate the particular challenges and opportunities that the participants faced during the year 2021 in regard to maternal health in Puerto Rico. COVID-19 restrictions impacted the experiences in receiving healthcare services, particularly regarding the birthing process and the participants’ mental health. Social support, particularly from family, was found to be a protective factor for facing the challenges during pandemic times. We expect that the findings can lead to the development of interventions for community health centers, prenatal clinics, non-governmental organizations, and parents/caretakers in Puerto Rico. The COVID-19 pandemic restrictions affected access to healthcare and social support. This had a negative impact on the general population but more so for vulnerabilized sectors like pregnant and post-partum women. This study provides insight into the experiences of pregnant and post-partum women in Puerto Rico during COVID-19. Through their narratives, we can explore how COVID-19 pandemic restrictions affected their birthing and childcare process. We can also observe the influence of social isolation on maternal mental health and how social support can be considered a protective factor.","journal":"Maternal and Child Health Journal","year":2024,"id":507476,"datarank":0.0,"base_score":0.0,"endowment":0.0,"self_citation_contribution":0.0,"citation_network_contribution":0.0,"self_endowment_contribution":0.0,"citer_contribution":0.0,"corpus_percentile":null,"corpus_rank":null,"citation_count":0,"citer_count":0,"citers_with_citation_signal":0,"citers_with_endowment":0,"datacite_reuse_total":0,"is_dataset":false,"is_dataset_confidence":0.8572,"is_data_producer":false,"deposit_databanks":null,"is_oa":true,"file_count":0,"downloads":0,"has_version_chain":false,"published_date":"2024-01-01","fair_score":null,"fair_percentile":null,"algorithm_id":"datarank_citation_only_1hop_v6","ranking_scope":"data_only","authors":[{"id":652682,"name":"Carmen Vélez Vega","orcid":null,"position":1,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":1359332,"name":"Nobel Hernández Otero","orcid":null,"position":2,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":1359333,"name":"Ana Guzzi Vasques","orcid":null,"position":3,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":1359334,"name":"Génesis Alvelo Colón","orcid":null,"position":4,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":367990,"name":"Ishwara Ayala","orcid":null,"position":5,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":1359335,"name":"Natacha Guilloty","orcid":null,"position":6,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":667457,"name":"Jessica Medina","orcid":null,"position":7,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":1359336,"name":"Marialane Cancel","orcid":null,"position":8,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":1359005,"name":"Sofía Contreras","orcid":"0000-0002-9312-1826","position":9,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":255336,"name":"José F. Cordero","orcid":"0000-0002-0564-6391","position":10,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":273696,"name":"Akram N. Alshawabkeh","orcid":"0000-0001-5243-4087","position":11,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":875994,"name":"Irene Lafarga Previdi","orcid":"0000-0001-5647-975X","position":0,"is_corresponding":true}],"reference_count":14,"raw_metadata":null,"created_at":"2026-07-19T02:11:02.460057Z","pmid":"39674860","pmcid":null,"fwci":null,"citation_percentile":null,"influential_citations":0,"oa_status":null,"license":null,"views":0,"total_file_size_bytes":0,"version_count":0,"fair_f":null,"fair_a":null,"fair_i":null,"fair_r":null,"fair_zscore":null,"fair_rationale":null,"fair_model":null,"fair_agent_version":null,"fair_fulltext_source":null,"fair_has_llm":null,"fair_computed_at":null,"clinical_trials":[],"software_tools":[],"db_accessions":[],"linked_datasets":[],"topics":[]}