Children and COVID-19 Research Library

In general, adolescents are vulnerable to lifestyle changes, with implications on their physical and mental health. During COVID-19 lockdown, mental disorders emerged among the Lebanese youth, with prevalence of psychiatric symptoms related to insomnia, depression, and anxiety. The case of the adolescent population in Lebanon was alarming. Suicidal intentions appeared among Lebanese adolescents from 9th to 12th grades. Our study identifies depressive tendencies, stress and anxiety indicators in the respondents remarks. Our adolescent informants have volunteered a few suggestions for coping strategies.

Food insecurity is the lack of access to nutritious healthy food due to economic and financial insufficiencies. Food insecurity is expected to be higher during these difficult times in Lebanon, which is facing many financial, political, economic and health debates. The present study aims to find the prevalence of food insecurity among Lebanese children during the COVID-19 pandemic and its correlates. This cross-sectional study enrolled 4001 participants from all Lebanese governorates (March–April 2022). The Ministry of Education and Higher Education randomly disseminated the link to parents of children aged between 5 and 11 years from public and private schools.

Syrian refugee adolescents in crisis-stricken Lebanon are facing growing challenges to their overall well-being, including their psychosocial well-being. With almost all the Syrian population in Lebanon sinking into severe poverty, the country’s compound crisis is taking a heavy toll on the mental health and psychosocial well-being of ever more vulnerable Syrian refugees. Isolation and mental health problems have been increasing among Syrian refugees, particularly adolescents and young people, as a direct result of the pressures caused by the economic crisis. Stigma surrounding mental health and lack of access to support services threatens the psychosocial well-being of all adolescents, but especially married girls. This report explores the impacts of this compound crisis on Syrian refugee adolescents’ psychosocial well- being and their opportunities to exercise voice and agency in their family and community. Drawing on a capabilities approach, the report presents findings from participatory research undertaken with 30 Syrian refugee adolescent girls and boys in Lebanon between 2019 and 2022. It explores gendered differences in voice and agency, and psychosocial well-being, by focusing on adolescents’ lived experiences amid the turbulent and deteriorating socioeconomic and political environment. It concludes with recommendations for policy and programming so that refugee adolescents can be supported to reach their full capabilities.

Vulnerable Lebanese and Palestinian refugee adolescents in crisis-stricken Lebanon, amid a global pandemic, face the most enormous challenges to their education. With increasing socioeconomic vulnerabilities and shrinking opportunities, and the ever more fragile education sector, adolescents’ education is increasingly at risk. In 2021, an estimated 260,000 Lebanese children and 440,000 refugee children dropped out of school. This report focuses on Palestinian and Lebanese adolescents’ access to education and learning, and their opportunities to exercise voice and agency, highlighting the impact of the Lebanese crisis on their lives. It draws on findings from the Gender and Adolescence: Global Evidence (GAGE) longitudinal study, involving adolescents from Syrian and Palestinian refugee communities and vulnerable Lebanese host communities. Using interactive participatory tools, including participatory photography, GAGE aims to gain a better understanding of ‘what works’ to empower different groups of adolescents (especially girls) in conflict-affected contexts.

Parenting interventions in humanitarian settings have prioritized the acquisition of parenting knowledge and skills, while overlooking the adverse effects of stress and distress on parenting—a key mediator of refugee children's mental health. We evaluated the effectiveness of the Caregiver Support Intervention (CSI), which emphasizes caregiver wellbeing together with training in positive parenting. This research conducted a two-arm randomized controlled trial of the CSI with Syrian refugees in Lebanon, with an intent-to-treat design, from September 2019–December 2020. A total of 480 caregivers from 240 families were randomized to the CSI or a waitlist control group (1:1). Retention from baseline to endline was 93%. Data on parenting and caregiver psychological wellbeing were collected at baseline, endline, and three-month follow-up.

Echoing global trends, where the absolute number of displaced persons continues to grow in tandem with the proportion of people living in protracted displacement, the vast majority of both Syrian and Palestinian refugee communities in Lebanon have been there for 10 years or longer. So, how can decision-makers lay the foundations for gender-responsive education systems and economic empowerment for refugee youth in Lebanon? The collapse of Lebanon’s GDP by 58% during recent years has resulted not only in an explosion of demand for humanitarian assistance, but also created growing concerns about meeting SDG targets. Questions arise over how best to support adolescents and young people to transition into adulthood in the midst of such intertwined, and escalating, crises. This ODI Report began with an extensive review of secondary data, and uses primary qualitative data collected from Syrian and Palestinian refugees living in Lebanon over the first half of 2021. Our research aims to identify programming proposals and recommended actions for donor and policy-makers to facilitate the economic and educational success for all young refugees living permanently outside their country's borders.

Sub-optimal feeding practices among under-5 children are the major drivers of malnutrition. This study aims to assess the prevalence of malnutrition and the factors affecting exclusive breastfeeding, bottle feeding, and complementary feeding practices among under 5 children amid the COVID-19 pandemic as well as the economic and the political crises in Lebanon. A nationally representative stratified random sample of mother–child dyads (n = 511) was collected from households using a stratified cluster sampling design. The survey inquired about infant’s feeding and complementary feeding practices using a valid questionnaire. Anthropometric measurements of the mother and child were collected. Multivariate logistic regression was conducted to explore the determinants associated with under-5 children’s practices.

Disrupting the traditional methods of education during the COVID-19 pandemic led to a shift towards online learning platforms. This shift has been problematic and challenging for most Lebanese parents who have had to deal with the COVID-19 pandemic crisis in addition to different economic, political, and environmental problems. The purpose of this research is to explore the types of parental challenges in online learning during the COVID-19 pandemic in Lebanon. The study has been conducted on parents from a school in Beirut, and data has been collected using a mixed-methods design; the first instrument is an online survey and the second one is an online interview.55 parents were able to complete the survey, and 10 parents were able to do the interview.

Since 2019, Lebanon’s economy has been caught in an accelerating downward spiral, which the World Bank predicts will rank in the top three most severe global economic crises in the last 150 years. Food prices have now climbed more than 500%, over half of the country is living below the poverty line and the electrical grid is on the verge of collapse as fuel has become unavailable. For the 1.5 million Syrian refugees and nearly 200,000 Palestinian refugees living in Lebanon, the situation is even more dire. In Lebanon, GAGE is running participatory research groups with 83 vulnerable Syrian, Palestinian and Lebanese adolescents. These young people are between the ages of 15 and 19 and live in host communities, formal refugee camps served by UNRWA (Palestinians), and informal tented settlements  (Syrians). The participatory research groups were established in 2019 and meet every four to six weeks  to discuss themes related to GAGE’s conceptual framework. This brief highlights headline emerging findings and provides links to fuller publications.

As Lebanon’s triple crisis continues to worsen, youth are struggling to find hope, support and opportunities amid mounting despair. The combined impact of an economic meltdown, the COVID-19 pandemic and the 2020 Beirut Port explosions are forcing youth from all backgrounds to take on responsibilities beyond their ages, with detrimental impacts on their mental health and on access to opportunities. More and more young people are dropping out of education or any type of learning to engage in ill-paid, irregular and informal work to generate whatever income they can to help their families cope with the mounting challenges. UNICEF’s new assessment shows that 3 in 10 young people in Lebanon have stopped their education, while 4 in 10 reduced spending on education to buy essential items like basic food and medicine. The combined impact of the crises has led to a significant increase in mental health issues among young people, resulting in risky behaviour and substance abuse, as well as an increase in gender-based violence (GBV). Approximately one in four adolescents in Lebanon suffers from a psychiatric disorder. Alarmingly, 94 per cent of adolescents with a mental disorder have not sought any treatment. In September 2021, UNICEF conducted a Youth-Focused Rapid Assessment (YFRA), interviewing around 900 youth and adolescents aged 15 to 246 across Lebanon. One in four reported often feeling depressed and just over half the respondents said their lives worsened over the past year.

Children and families in Lebanon are enduring multiple crises. The economic collapse and the COVID-19 pandemic have significantly curtailed children’s rights and their access to basic services. This has been compounded by political deadlock, rising instability, and the enduring impact of the Beirut port explosion. Children’s education has been impacted, their mental wellbeing is worsening, there are increases in child labour and early marriage – and behind closed doors, physical, verbal, and sexual violence is being perpetrated against children. In 2020, the Arab Network on child rights (Manara Network) and Save the Children commissioned research on the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on children and child rights in Lebanon. The scope of this research was expanded in 2021 to include the impact of the economic crisis. The research process included a quantitative survey conducted in 2020 that covered Lebanese, Syrian and Palestinian children, caregivers, and service providers; and interviews with public and private school principals, humanitarian and human rights organisations, and civil society associations. In 2021, focus group discussions (FGDs) were conducted with children, caregivers, teachers, and social workers in eight governorates in Lebanon. Gender balance, diversity of nationalities, and representation of people with disabilities, refugees, and immigrants were taken into consideration in all discussions.

Digital learning has the potential to offer interactive and personalized learning for children, in and out of school, including the most marginalized. However, depending on programme design, delivery, and use, digital learning can also exacerbate learning inequalities. This report presents tangible findings on the implementation and use of digital learning to improve outcomes for marginalized children in Lebanon. This report focuses on the UNICEF-Akelius Foundation Partnership and its implementation of a digital course used on tablets and mobile phones for language learning of Syrian refugees in Lebanon. The report provides findings across three areas: First, the report investigates the digital course’s use in a blended learning environment where it was used on tablets by students as part of traditional face-to-face classroom instruction with teachers. Second, the analysis examines the transition to remote learning where the course was used on devices owned by the household, supported by teachers remotely. Third, the report estimates the effectiveness of the use of the digital course during this period of remote learning from August–November 2020 showing positive results for language and art competencies.

Child psychosocial recovery interventions in humanitarian contexts often overlook the significant effect that caregivers can have on improving children’s future trajectory. This study enhanced the well-established, evidenced-based child trauma recovery programme Teaching Recovery Techniques (TRT) intervention with parenting sessions, i.e., TRT + Parenting (TRT + P), which aims to improve parent mental health and their ability to support their children’s mental health. It also described the findings of a three-arm randomised controlled trial comparing enhanced TRT + P vs. TRT and waitlist.