Best Practices in Perinatal Mental Health During COVID-19

The COVID-19 pandemic has caused changes in health care during pregnancy, childbirth and postpartum. Although adverse effects of COVID-19 on perinatal mental health have been documented, changes in the perinatal mental health care provided to women and their families are yet to be established. As a Task Force in Perinatal mental health and COVID-19 pandemic within RISEUP-PPD COST Action, we aim: (i) to identify policies, guidelines and protocols from different European countries concerning the provision of perinatal mental health care in face of COVID-19, and (ii) to select the best practices to alleviate the negative impact of COVID-19 on perinatal mental health. The survey will be conducted among experts in perinatal mental health who are members of the COST Action RISEUP-PPD and COST Action Devotion in 36 European countries. The experts will fill in the online survey designed for this study that includes a series of open-ended questions, checklists, and response ratings on a 7-point scale. The topic areas cover seven domains of interest: 1) mental health policies, guidelines, protocols, and documents; 2) mental health care practices; 3) best practices; 4) barriers; 5) resources; 6) benefits; and 7) short- and long-term expectations. Data analysis will be mainly a qualitative analysis of the experts' professional views and opinions about the policies, guidelines, protocols, and documents regarding perinatal mental health changes in their country. Additionally, a basic quantitative descriptive analysis will be conducted.