Lifestyle of pregnant women during COVID-19 pandemic

The threat of the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2, from here onward mentioned as COVID-19) and the national measures to restrict transmission of COVID-19 in the Dutch population have caused a radical change in the daily life of Dutch citizens. The closure of schools and public locations (amongst which are sports facilities) is affecting the daily structure and habits of Dutch citizens greatly. Next to that, the public order for social distancing and self-isolation might have a large effect on the social wellbeing of the people. These radical changes most likely causes changes in the health behaviour of people, possibly leading to changes in eating pattern and exercise behaviour which might lead to unintentional weight gain. Stress and anxiety about this situation can add to this effect, by negatively affecting the mental state of people.

Controversially, the threat of COVID-19 could also induce an increase of healthy behaviour, stemming from the desire to ward off the disease as best as possible. In combination with the window of opportunity for changing lifestyle that is commonly linked to being pregnant, it is interesting to investigate the effect of the COVID-19 measures on the health behaviour of pregnant women. Next to that, a lot of courses are being thought online. This creates opportunity for people to follow different courses other than they would have done if there were no COVID-19 measures.

Additionally, the fact that people are asked to work from home, resulting in less travelling time and more free time might make it possible to do more sports. On the other hand, the exercise that might be involved in traveling to work is less. In conclusion, the radical changes in the current situation could yield important information regarding the health behaviour pregnant women. Knowledge of these changes and their potential beneficial or harmful effect could provide information for future interventions and regulations regarding health behaviour and care for pregnant women.

This study aims to investigate the changes in health behaviour of pregnant women with overweight or obesity compared to women with a healthy weight and the positive effects of newly developed online courses during the COVID-19 crisis. Secondly, this study aims to provide insight in the experienced advantages/disadvantages of new online tools to improve health behaviour for pregnant women.

We hypothesise that the health behaviour of pregnant women is influenced by the measures to prevent the spread of COVID-19. It is not clear however, if it is positively affected (because of having more time, providing online options, creating a feeling of urge to be healthy) or negatively affected (because of having no acces to sports facilities, staying inside, having to work from home, availability of foods). Next to that, we hypothesise that the availability of new online tools to improve health behaviour is perceived as a positive development by pregnant women and that they use these tools more often than before the COVID-19 pandemic.

1 day during their pregnancy for a telephone interview of 30-60 minutes.

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