The Turkish validity and reliability study of the COVID-19 fear scale for perinatal period (EMC 19-9) and the relationship of COVID-19 with healthy living behaviors in pregnancy

Objective: This study was conducted to test the Turkish validity and reliability of the Perinatal Period COVID-19 Fear Scale (EMC19-9) in pregnant women and to determine the relationship between the fear of COVID-19 and healthy lifestyle behaviors in pregnant women. Materials and Methods: The research is methodological and analytical-cross-sectional and was carried out in Isparta Süleyman Demirel University Hospital and Isparta City Hospital between September 2021 and August 2023. The population of the study consisted of women who applied to the hospital for pregnancy follow-up, and the sample consisted of 100 pregnant women selected by conviencing sampling from the population for scale validity-reliability and 450 pregnant women for analytical-cross-sectional study. Data were collected with a personal information form, Perinatal COVID-19 Fear Scale and Healthy Living Behaviors Scale in Pregnancy. The Perinatal Period COVID-19 Fear Scale was translated into Turkish, and its content validity, construct validity and reliability were performed using the PASW 22 and AMOS 21 programs. The obtained data were expressed with descriptive statistics (number, percentage) and tested using one-way variance, Kuruskal Wallis and correlation analysis. Results: In the validity and reliability study of the Perinatal period COVID-19 Fear Scale; The content validity index was 0.997, the total variance was 55.069 in the factor analysis, the Cronbach's alpha coefficient was 0.896, the Spearman Brown coefficient was 0.956 in the split-half analysis, and the correlation value was r=0.543 (p<0.05) in the test-retest measurement. The item-total test correlation values of all items varied between 0.370 and 0.713. The fit indices were calculated as Incremental Fit Index =0.938, Goodness Of Fit Index =0.883, Comparative Fit Index =0.936, Tucker-Lewis Index =0.896, Normed Fit Index =0.904, Root Mean Square Error of Approximation =0.128. In the second stage, in which the relationship between the fear of perinatal period COVID-19 and healthy life behaviors during pregnancy was determined, the mean score of the perinatal period COVID-19 fear scale was determined as 21.10±8.98, and the mean score of the healthy lifestyle behaviors scale was determined as 114.74±14.59. Perinatal period COVID-19 fear scale scores and healthy living behaviors during pregnancy scale total (r=-0.038, p>0.05) and subscales of pregnancy responsibility (r=-0.023, p>0.05), hygiene (r= -0.004, p>0.05), nutrition (-0.053, p>0.05), physical activity (r=-0.045, p>0.05), travel (r=0.007, p>0.05) and No statistical correlation was found between the scores of accepting pregnancy (r=-0.057, p>0.05). Perinatal period COVID-19 fear scale scores of pregnant women only in the third trimester, and nutrition (r=-0.185, p<0.05), physical activity (r=-0.175, p<0.05) and pregnancy subscales of healthy lifestyle behaviors during pregnancy. It was determined that there was a negative, weak statistical relationship between acceptance (r=-0.176, p<0.05) scores. Conclusion: In this study, it was concluded that the Turkish version of the Perinatal Period COVID-19 Fear Scale is a valid and reliable scale in pregnant women, that fear of COVID-19 is not associated with healthy lifestyle behaviors in pregnant women, and that as the fear of COVID-19 increases only in pregnant women in the third trimester, nutrition, physical activity and acceptance of pregnancy will decrease. Keywords: Coronavirus, Fear, Scale, Perinatal Period, Healthy Living