Becoming a Parent During the COVID-19 Pandemic in Austria and Germany

August 2, 2022 updated by: Cristina Florea, University of Salzburg

Addendum Elternwerden in Zeiten Der COVID-19-Pandemie Zum Projekt "Pränatales Lernen Und Wiedererkennen Von Auditiven Reizen - Eine Psychophysiologische Perinatal Studie"

This is an online survey in Austria and Germany directed at parents with children born since the start of the first lockdown of the COVID-19 pandemic (birthdate beginning with 16.03.2020). The survey includes questions about:

  • current stress levels and depressive symptoms,
  • resilience during the pandemic,
  • social support,
  • retrospective birth risk factors, pregnancy distress and pregnancy experience,
  • demographic factors and
  • other questions related to parenting and the COVID-19 pandemic.

Study Overview

Status

Status

Indicates the current recruitment status or the expanded access status.
Completed

Conditions

Conditions

The disease, disorder, syndrome, illness, or injury that is being studied. On ClinicalTrials.gov, conditions may also include other health-related issues, such as lifespan, quality of life, and health risks.

Detailed Description

The study evaluated data collected in the course of an online survey during the COVID-19 pandemic in Austria and Germany. The questions were conceived to reflect aspects of pregnancy, childbirth and early child rearing that could be affected by the pandemic, and included commonly used and previously validated scores for assessing pregnancy distress (Pregnancy Distress Questionnaire, PDQ), birth experiences (Childbirth Experience Questionnaire 2, CEQ2) postnatal depression (Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale, EPDS), perceived stress (Perceived Stress Scale, PSS) and pandemic-related experiences (pandemic resilience part, adapted to postnatal period, from the Pandemic Related Stress in Pregnancy Scale, PREPS). In addition, the investigators composed questions and scales that referred to specific pandemic- and parenting-related issues that were not covered otherwise. The investigators also tried to question both the fathers and the mothers, and consequently mothers received more pregnancy-related questions than fathers. Furthermore, biological mothers received childbirth-related questions which were omitted for adoptive mothers.

Study Type

Study Type

Describes the nature of a clinical study. Study types include interventional studies (also called clinical trials), observational studies (including patient registries), and expanded access.
Observational

Enrollment (Actual)

Enrollment

The number of participants in a clinical study. The "anticipated" enrollment is the target number of participants that the researchers need for the study.
2226

Contacts and Locations

This section provides the contact details for those conducting the study, and information on where this study is being conducted.

Study Locations

  • Austria
      • Salzburg, Austria, 5020
        • Paris-Lodron University of Salzburg

Participation Criteria

Researchers look for people who fit a certain description, called eligibility criteria. Some examples of these criteria are a person's general health condition or prior treatments.

Eligibility Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

The key requirements that people who want to participate in a clinical study must meet or the characteristics they must have. Eligibility criteria consist of both inclusion criteria (which are required for a person to participate in the study) and exclusion criteria (which prevent a person from participating). Types of eligibility criteria include whether a study accepts healthy volunteers, has age or age group requirements, or is limited by sex.

Ages Eligible for Study

18 years to 65 years (Adult, Older Adult)

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

No

Genders Eligible for Study

All

Sampling Method

Non-Probability Sample

Study Population

Parents that had a baby born since the 16th of March 2020 (which corresponds to the beginning of the first lockdown in Austria and in Bavaria, Germany)

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

  • parents that had a baby born since the 16th of March 2020 (which corresponds to the beginning of the first lockdown in Austria and in Bavaria, Germany)
  • living in Austria or Germany

Exclusion Criteria:

  • stillborn or neonatal death

Study Plan

This section provides details of the study plan, including how the study is designed and what the study is measuring.

How is the study designed?

Design Details

  • Observational Models: Cohort
  • Time Perspectives: Cross-Sectional

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Primary Outcome Measures

In a clinical study's protocol, the planned outcome measure that is the most important for evaluating the effect of an intervention/treatment. Most clinical studies have one primary outcome measure, but some have more than one.
Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Depressive symptoms
Time Frame: Over the previous seven days from the time of answering the questionnaire
Score on the Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale, range 0-30. Interpretation: 0-8 (depression not likely), 9-11 (depression possible), 12-13 (fairly high possibility), 14-30 (probable depression).
Over the previous seven days from the time of answering the questionnaire
Perceived stress
Time Frame: Over the previous month from the time of answering the questionnaire
Score on the Perceived Stress Scale, range 0 to 40. Interpretation: 0-13 (low stress), 14-26 (moderate stress), 27-40 (high stress).
Over the previous month from the time of answering the questionnaire
Childbirth experience
Time Frame: At 0 to up to 15 months after birth (one assessment)
Score on the Childbirth Experience Questionnaire 2 - factors "Coping ability", "Participation" and "Emotional experience". Range 13 (negative) to 52 (positive birth experience).
At 0 to up to 15 months after birth (one assessment)
Pregnancy distress
Time Frame: At 0 to up to 15 months after birth (one assessment)
Score on the Pregnancy Distress Questionnaire, 10 items scored from 0 to 4. The total score is the sum of all items divided by the number of items (10). The score's range is 0 (low distress) to 4 (high distress).
At 0 to up to 15 months after birth (one assessment)
Resilience during the pandemic
Time Frame: One year after the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic
Score on the resilience subscale from the Pandemic Related Pregnancy Stress Scale, adapted to postpartum participants. It contains 7 items, scored from 1 to 5. The total score range is 7 (low resilience) to 35 (high resilience).
One year after the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic
Social support
Time Frame: At 0 to up to 15 months after birth (one assessment)
The Social Support score consisted of 3 Items scored on a Likert scale from 0-4, covering the subjective feeling of social support. Its possible range was 0 to 12, with higher scores indicating more social support.
At 0 to up to 15 months after birth (one assessment)
Child's Social Contacts
Time Frame: At 0 to up to 15 months after birth (one assessment)
The Child's Social Contacts score is the sum of frequencies with which the child has contact with other people, each item representing one person/relationship (mother, father, siblings, grandparents, other adults, other children), which are independent of each other. The possible range for the Child's Social Contacts score was 0-6, 6 points indicating daily contact with parents, sibling(s), grandparent(s), other adults, and other children, and 0 indicating no contact at all.
At 0 to up to 15 months after birth (one assessment)
Pandemic Repercussions
Time Frame: One year after the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic
The Pandemic Repercussions score comprises five items which inquire about the perceived influence of the coronavirus situation on the pregnancy, birth experience, health and development of the child, financial security, and on the partnership. Each item was scored from -2 (for strong positive influence) to 2 (strong negative influence), making the possible range of the score from -10 to +10, where negative values indicate positive repercussions and positive values indicate negative repercussions.
One year after the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic
Pandemic Distress
Time Frame: One year after the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic
The Pandemic Distress score consisted of 3 Items that inquired about the participant's worries about the virus affecting herself, her relatives and/or her baby. Each item was scored on a Likert scale from 0-4, so that the possible range of the score was 0-12, with higher values indicating that the participant is more worried. This score is computed only for those participants who had not had Covid-19 themselves, since those who had had Covid-19 were not asked whether they worried to catch it again.
One year after the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic
Birth Risk
Time Frame: Retrospectively assessed, at 0 to up to 15 months after birth (one assessment).
The Birth Risk score consists of 10 items which reflect the medical risk factors for a poor birth outcome: whether singleton or multiples pregnancy, pre/at/post-term birth, newborn weight at birth, type of birth, maternal age, quarantine during birth, history of miscarriage, mother's parity (higher risk if first or fifth/further pregnancy), length of hospitalization for the mother and for the baby. This score had a possible range of 5 to 29, with lower values indicating smaller risk and higher values higher risk.
Retrospectively assessed, at 0 to up to 15 months after birth (one assessment).

Secondary Outcome Measures

Secondary Outcome Measures

In a clinical study's protocol, a planned outcome measure that is not as important as the primary outcome measure for evaluating the effect of an intervention but is still of interest. Most clinical studies have more than one secondary outcome measure.
Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Correlations between the scores from the primary outcome measures
Time Frame: At the time of answering the questionnaire
Spearman correlations between the scores from the primary outcome measures
At the time of answering the questionnaire

Collaborators and Investigators

This is where you will find people and organizations involved with this study.

Sponsor

Sponsor

The organization or person who initiates the study and who has authority and control over the study.
University of Salzburg

Collaborators

Collaborators

An organization other than the sponsor that provides support for a clinical study. This support may include activities related to funding, design, implementation, data analysis, or reporting.
Austrian Science Fund (FWF)

Investigators

Investigators

A researcher involved in a clinical study. Related terms include site principal investigator, site sub-investigator, study chair, study director, and study principal investigator.
  • Study Chair: Manuel Schabus, Prof. Dr., Paris-Lodron University of Salzburg
  • Principal Investigator: Monika Angerer, Dr., Paris-Lodron University of Salzburg

Study record dates

These dates track the progress of study record and summary results submissions to ClinicalTrials.gov. Study records and reported results are reviewed by the National Library of Medicine (NLM) to make sure they meet specific quality control standards before being posted on the public website.

Study Major Dates

Study Start (Actual)

Study Start

The actual date on which the first participant was enrolled in a clinical study. The "anticipated" study start date is the date that the researchers think will be the study start date.
May 18, 2021

Primary Completion (Actual)

Primary Completion

The date on which the last participant in a clinical study was examined or received an intervention to collect final data for the primary outcome measure. Whether the clinical study ended according to the protocol or was terminated does not affect this date. For clinical studies with more than one primary outcome measure with different completion dates, this term refers to the date on which data collection is completed for all the primary outcome measures. The "anticipated" primary completion date is the date that the researchers think will be the primary completion date for the study.
July 1, 2021

Study Completion (Actual)

Study Completion

The date on which the last participant in a clinical study was examined or received an intervention/treatment to collect final data for the primary outcome measures, secondary outcome measures, and adverse events (that is, the last participant's last visit). The "anticipated" study completion date is the date that the researchers think will be the study completion date.
July 1, 2021

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

First Submitted

The date on which the study sponsor or investigator first submitted a study record to ClinicalTrials.gov. There is typically a delay of a few days between the first submitted date and the record's availability on ClinicalTrials.gov (the first posted date).
July 29, 2022

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

The date on which the study sponsor or investigator first submits a study record that is consistent with National Library of Medicine (NLM) quality control (QC) review criteria. The sponsor or investigator may need to revise and submit a study record one or more times before NLM's QC review criteria are met. It is the responsibility of the sponsor or investigator to ensure that the study record is consistent with the NLM QC review criteria.
August 2, 2022

First Posted (Actual)

First Posted

The date on which the study record was first available on ClinicalTrials.gov after National Library of Medicine (NLM) quality control (QC) review has concluded. There is typically a delay of a few days between the date the study sponsor or investigator submitted the study record and the first posted date.
August 4, 2022

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (Actual)

Last Update Posted

The most recent date on which changes to a study record were made available on ClinicalTrials.gov. There may be a delay between when the changes were submitted to ClinicalTrials.gov by the study's sponsor or investigator (the last update submitted date) and the last update posted date.
August 4, 2022

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

The most recent date on which the study sponsor or investigator submitted changes to a study record that are consistent with National Library of Medicine (NLM) quality control (QC) review criteria. It is the responsibility of the sponsor or investigator to ensure that the study record is consistent with the NLM QC review criteria.
August 2, 2022

Last Verified

Last Verified

The most recent date on which the study sponsor or investigator confirmed the information about a clinical study on ClinicalTrials.gov as accurate and current. If a study with a recruitment status of recruiting; not yet recruiting; or active, not recruiting has not been confirmed within the past 2 years, the study's recruitment status is shown as unknown.
August 1, 2022

More Information

Terms related to this study

Additional Relevant MeSH Terms

Other Study ID Numbers

Other Study ID Numbers

Identifiers or ID numbers other than the NCT number that are assigned to a clinical study by the study's sponsor, funders, or others. These numbers may include unique identifiers from other trial registries and National Institutes of Health grant numbers.
  • EK-GZ12/2013-Addendum-07/2021

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?

Yes

IPD Plan Description

The anonymously collected data including the answers to the questionnaire, the questionnaire itself, and the analytic code shall be shared on an open data platform at the end of the study.

IPD Sharing Time Frame

The data will be uploaded by December 2022 and will be available for an unlimited time.

IPD Sharing Access Criteria

Researchers from accredited institutions.

IPD Sharing Supporting Information Type

  • Study Protocol
  • Informed Consent Form (ICF)
  • Analytic Code

Drug and device information, study documents

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product

No

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product

No

This information was retrieved directly from the website clinicaltrials.gov without any changes. If you have any requests to change, remove or update your study details, please contact register@clinicaltrials.gov. As soon as a change is implemented on clinicaltrials.gov, this will be updated automatically on our website as well.

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