Analysis of health behaviours of pregnant women in the perinatal period during the SARS-CoV-2 virus pandemic based on the Health Behaviour Inventory

Introduction: The regulations in the Organizational Standard of Perinatal Care in Poland emphasize the need for people caring for pregnant women to take action to promote a healthy lifestyle at every stage of pregnancy. The aim of the study was to analyse selected health behaviours of pregnant women in the perinatal period during the COVID-19 pandemic.Material and methods: A study was conducted at the Clinical Department of Obstetrics and Perinatology at the University Hospital in Krakow. The respondents comprised 116 pregnant women in the perinatal period. The study used the diagnostic survey method. The proprietary questionnaire and the Juczyński Health Behaviour Inventory questionnaire were used. The collected data were analysed using PS IMAGO PRO 7 (IBM SPSS Statistics 27). Statistical significance was set at α = 0.05. Results: Despite the COVID-19 pandemic, most of the pregnant women attended regular check-ups during pregnancy, had a pap smear test, and supplemented their diet with vitamins. A lower percentage of pregnant women benefited from dental consultations. It was noted that most of the respondents planned to vaccinate their children for mandatory vaccinations; however, a different correlation was shown in the case of planning to vaccinate children for recommended vaccinations. Among the respondents who received recommended vaccinations during pregnancy, as many as 94.5% of them planned to vaccinate their children for recommended vaccinations. In the group of unvaccinated women, this percentage was significantly lower. The differences were statistically significant. Conclusions: The results of the study proved that during the SARS-CoV-2 virus pandemic, the surveyed women represented an average level of intensification of health behaviours, which could have increased the risk of complications during pregnancy. Therefore, at every stage of pregnancy, it is worth promoting a healthy lifestyle and taking up health behaviours.