Introduction: Pregnancy is one of the most important periods in the life of every woman and is considered a stressful and demanding period. Pregnant women are already experiencing increased anxiety due to the very fact that they are pregnant and the accompanying changes, and during the COVID-19 epidemic, additional circumstances joined in - the need to adjust to the restrictions. Stress is often responsible for the detrimental outcome in mother and newborn, including low birth weight, preterm birth, preeclampsia, gestational diabetes and unplanned cesarean section. Purpose: We want to determine what levels of stress related to the COVID-19 epidemic are experienced by pregnant women in Slovenia and in which area they experience higher levels of stress. we will also be interested to see if our results are comparable to those of some other countries. Methods of work: A descriptive and causally non-experimental method of empirical research was used. The research approach was based on quantitative research, and a validated questionnaire called the PREPS scale was used for the research tool. Results: 1104 pregnant women participated in the study. We found that during the COVID-19 epidemic, more than a third of the participants faced high levels of stress. The data also showed that those who were pregnant for the first time during the COVID-19 epidemic, had a high-risk pregnancy, lost their income and were in the 2nd or 3rd trimester at the time of the survey experienced higher levels of stress. We found that pregnant women in Slovenia experienced the highest levels of stress due to concerns about infection. Discussion and conclusion: The impact of the epidemic on the well-being of pregnant women is worrying. As can be seen from the results, the respondents experience a state of experience ranging from mild to severe stress in our sample. Much of the stress experienced by pregnant women during the COVID-19 epidemic is due to infection concerns and lack of readiness for childbirth (as a result of limited health services). It is important to be aware that stress during pregnancy not only affects one person but also affects the fetus and its development. It would make sense to help women cope with and relieve stress, e.g. online counseling for support and useful information. It would also make sense to carry out preventive checks on the experience of stress with the help of the PREPS scale or some other screening instrument developed for this purpose.
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