Abstract:

Aim: In this study, it was aimed to determine the relationship between the impressions of young women of reproductive age who plan to have children in the future, their fertility intentions, their fear of birth before pregnancy and the fear of COVID 19. Material and Methods:The sample of this descriptive and cross-sectional study consisted of 302 women of childbearing age. Ethics committee approval was obtained the study. Data were collected via online social networks using the COVID-19 Fear Scale and the Women Childbirth Fear–Prior to Pregnancy(WCF-PPS). Evaluation of the data was done with descriptive statistics, independent samples t-test, and Spearman correlation analysis. Results:The mean age of the women was22.68±3.54, and the average number of children they would like to have is 1.98±0.96and 83.1% of them do not intend to have a child during the pandemic. Women as reasons for delaying fertility intention during the pandemic; Fear of COVID-19(71.5%), the number of pregnancies (81.5%), financial concerns (91.1%), the continuation of the pandemic (67.9%), using medication due to coronavirus disease (73.8%), getting COVID-19 vaccine (41.4%) showed. The difference between the mean score of the fear of COVID-19 scale of the women (18.10±6.31) who stated that the fertility intention should be postponed due to the ongoing pandemic and the women (16.27±5.58) who stated that it was not necessary was significant (t=2.347, p=.020). It showed a moderately positive correlation between the COVID-19 Fear Scale and the WCF-PPS (r=.339, p<0.001).Conclusion: It was determined that women's fertility intentions, fears of COVID-19, and fears of childbirth prior to pregnancy were related during the pandemic process.

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