Abstract
The COVID-19 pandemic affected the perinatal emotional landscape in Italy, a country that had high mortality and implemented a strict lockdown during the pandemic. This study explores the emotions and challenges of pregnant and postpartum women during the pandemic, using AI-based mixed methods. The study analyzed 1774 women from the national survey COVID-ASSESS: 1136 pregnant and 638 postpartum women. The survey had qualitative questions on emotions and feelings related to birth, communication with healthcare professionals, media, and peers and family. We used natural language processing and machine learning to classify emotions, identify themes, and extract citations from the data. Fear and anxiety replaced joy as dominant emotions during the pandemic: trust and joy decreased by 49.3% and 36.4%, respectively, while sadness and fear increased by 52.3% and 49.3%, respectively. The pandemic also induced loneliness, isolation, frustration, and anger. Women faced challenges related to birth, communication with HCPs, media, and peers and family. They also used coping strategies such as self-care, news limitation, and trying to cultivate gratitude and hope. This study provides a comprehensive exploration of the perinatal emotional landscape of Italian women during the pandemic. The findings underscore the significant psychological impact of the pandemic and also highlight women's resilience and coping strategies.