“What if I’m on my own?” Interim report: experiences of pregnancy and birth during the COVID-19 pandemic

With support from the national funding agency, UK Research and Innovation (UKRI), the Born in Bradford (BiB) team designed a rapid-response research programme to rapidly gather data on the health, social, education and economic impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on families in Bradford. The research programme included surveys, as well as in-depth interviews with families, to understand what it was like to be pregnant, give birth and bring up a baby during the pandemic. This report is based on the interviews about pregnancy experiences, conducted by telephone between May and November 2020, with 12 women and two male partners, all of whom were interviewed in English. The key topics that we explored with women and partners included: physical health, mental wellbeing, key relationships and access to, use of and satisfaction with services. Future reports will cover childbirth in more detail, as well as the postnatal period. The aim of this interim report is to provide timely information to service providers