Title: Psychological Impact and Associated Factors of the COVID-19 Pandemic among
Pregnant Women in Fafan Zone Health Institutions, Somali Region, Eastern Ethiopia, 2021
Version: 3 Date: 03 Mar 2024
Reviewer:  Abdeslam El Kardoudi
Reviewer's report:
Psychological Impact and Associated Factors of the COVID-19 Pandemic among Pregnant
Women in Fafan Zone Health Institutions, Somali Region, Eastern Ethiopia, 2021
Comments to authors
Your study concerning “Psychological Impact and Associated Factors of the COVID-19
Pandemic among Pregnant Women in Fafan Zone Health Institutions, Somali Region, Eastern
Ethiopia, 2021” is both interesting and relevant. This paper presents some strong aspects, as well
as some limitations, and in my standpoint, some aspects that must be clarified/ corrected to add
value to your work once published.
You will find in this report the comments relating to the different parts of your manuscript:
Title:
# It would be better to put mental health symptoms instead of psychological impact
Abstract:
# Insert the objective part of the study in the context
Keywords:
# Add pregnant women as keyword
Introduction:
# Please answer the introduction with recent references (see list of suggested links).
# Please adjust the statistics and data presented so that they are accurate and understandable.
# Please structure the text to ensure a clear progression between an examination of the
pandemic's physical risks and its psychological impact on pregnant women, to improve
readability.
Methods:
# There is no clear reference to weather the Events Scale-Revised (IES-R) and the Oslo-3 Social
Support Scale (OSS-3) is validated to Ethiopian population.
# line 114: the abbreviation ANC was previously used
# You have not used references for the scores adopted for the two scales.
# Have the data collection tools been tested on pregnant women or other populations? If not,
please explain why not?
# In the method section, you didn't mention the ethical considerations relating to this study
Results:
# In table 1, indicate the unit of measurement for the age and income variables
# In tables 1, 2 and 3 you've grouped the last two columns (number and percent) in (frequency),
is that correct?
# Significant variables (p < 0.25) from binary logistic regression models are not reported in
table 4,
Discussion:
# Please repeat the discussion section using recent references
# Lines: 237-2038-2039: "other studies have also shown that the psychological impact of the
covid-19 outbreak tends to be more severe in women in the first trimester of pregnancy (less
than 16 weeks)" is a bit wordy and could be streamlined.
# Lines 240-241: "mothers in the first trimester of pregnancy" could be replaced with "pregnant
women in their first trimester" for clarity and conciseness.
# Lines: 259-261: "the difference could be due to types of programs watched, the content
presented, and the perceived influence of television on mental well-being may vary across
cultures." the sentence lacks parallel structure and could be revised for clarity.
# Line 262: "limitation of the study" should be "limitations of the study" to indicate that multiple
limitations are being discussed.
Conclusion:
# Lines 270-272: "Further research is needed to explore additional factors and validate these
findings in diverse populations" is a general statement and could be more specific about the
areas needing further research.
References:
# References to databases must be written according to the journal's guidelines.
# Please insert references dated after 2020
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/34940116/
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0165178121002754
https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fped.2022.790518/full
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/18/13/7112
https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/public-health/articles/10.3389/fpubh.2022.785383/full
https://reproductive-health-journal.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12978-022-01493-9
https://www.europeanjournalofmidwifery.eu/Pregnancy-during-the-pandemic-The-
psychological-impact-of-COVID-19-on-pregnant-women,157463,0,2.html
https://bmcpregnancychildbirth.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12884-021-04331-1
# The list of bibliographical references must be drawn up in the style requested by the journal
(especially for references 2-3-6-26) (see instructions for authors).