Özet:

Introduction: Groups vulnerable to the stress effects of the COVID-19 pandemic include pregnant women and women who have recently given birth. It has been shown that during the isolation process, women's expectations about postpartum care decrease and they cause anxiety about various aspects of childbirth. Therefore, in this study, it is aimed to determine the effect of fear of COVID-19 on the mother's perception of birth and postpartum anxiety. Method: The population of the descriptive-cross-sectional study consisted of puerperant women. When the power analysis was performed, the sample size was determined to be at least 202 puerperant women with an effect size of 0.25, a margin of error of 0.05, a confidence level of 0.95, and a power of 0.95 to represent the universe. The research was completed with 255 puerperant women. The data were collected with the "Personal Description Form", "COVID- 19 Fear Scale", "Mother's Perception of Birth Scale (MPBS)", "State Trait Anxiety Inventory (SATI)". In statistical evaluation, in addition to descriptive statistics, Cronbach's alpha, linear regression analysis was used. Results: The mean scores of the mothers participating in the study were 18.98±13.04 (COVID-19 Fear Scale), 73.64±13.04 (MPBS), and 36.02±9.38 (STAI FORM TX – I), respectively. As a result of the analysis, it was determined that the fear of COVID 19 affected the mother's perception of birth and its sub-dimensions negatively, but this effect was not statistically significant, it predicted postpartum anxiety in a positive way and the established model was statistically significant. Conclusion: It can be said that the mother's perception of birth is not affected by the fear of COVID- 19, and a higher level of fear of COVID- 19 accompanies higher postpartum anxiety.

Anahtar Kelimeler: