Area of Science:

• Public Health
• Psychology
• Epidemiology

Background:

• The COVID-19 pandemic created a climate of fear and uncertainty.
• Psychological distress in pregnant women can negatively impact fetal development.
• News media consumption increased significantly during the pandemic.

Purpose of the Study:

• To examine the association between news media use frequency and psychological distress in pregnant women during the COVID-19 pandemic.
• To understand the scale of psychological distress related to news consumption in this vulnerable population.

Main Methods:

• A study involving 1014 pregnant women in Quebec during a health emergency.
• Participants were categorized by news media consulting frequency (none, once daily, multiple times daily, constant).
• Measures included depressive symptoms, negative affect, PTSD symptoms, and COVID-19-specific anxiety, combined into a psychological distress score.

Main Results:

• Increased news media exposure frequency was significantly associated with higher psychological distress severity in pregnant women (p < 0.001).
• Psychological distress rates rose when news media consumption exceeded once a day.
• Effect sizes for higher distress ranged from 0.38 to 0.81.

Conclusions:

• Higher frequency of news media consultation during the COVID-19 pandemic correlated with increased psychological distress among pregnant women.
• Findings support public health recommendations to limit news consumption during crises.
• This study offers empirical evidence for advising reduced media exposure to protect maternal mental well-being.