Children and COVID-19 Research Library

Parental attitudes towards childhood vaccination programs are important for successful delivery. Children were affected by COVID-19; however, parental attitudes towards childhood COVID-19 vaccination have not been fully assessed. The purpose is to assess parental hesitancy and attitudes about their children receiving a COVID-19 vaccination. This was a cross-sectional study using an electronically distributed questionnaire including a convenience sample of 123 Saudi Arabian parents of school-aged children between five and eleven years old. Most of the participants were mothers (77.2%) aged 31–40 years old (61%). The mean score of the questionnaire about parents’ attitudes towards the COVID-19 vaccine was M = 18.95, SD = 5.52.

The COVID-19 pandemic is still ongoing, so it is critical to immunize the majority of people, including children, to achieve herd immunity against the pandemic. As parents are the ones who ultimately decide whether or not to vaccinate their children, this study was conducted to determine parental acceptance and hesitancy toward vaccinating their children against COVID-19, as well as their knowledge of and concerns regarding vaccination against COVID-19, as well as factors that might influence their willingness to vaccinate in Najran city, Saudi Arabia. Methods: In February 2022, a cross-sectional, questionnaire-based study using a convenientand snowball sampling technique was carried out. Parents of children between the ages of 5 and 11 were given access to an online self-administered survey.

With the rapid surge of SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant, this study aimed to assess parents' perceptions of the COVID-19 vaccines and the psychological antecedents of vaccinations during the first month of the Omicron spread.  A cross-sectional online survey in Saudi Arabia was conducted (December 20, 2021-January 7, 2022). Convenience sampling was used to invite participants through several social media platforms, including WhatsApp, Twitter, and email lists. This study utilized the validated 5C Scale, which evaluates five psychological factors influencing vaccination intention and behavior: confidence, complacency, constraints, calculation, and collective responsibility.

The prevalence of childhood and adolescent obesity has increased dramatically and poses a major public health threat globally. In the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), the main cause of adolescent obesity is an increase in physical inactivity and unhealthy eating habits due to lifestyle changes. This study reports on factors associated with physical activity (PA) prior to and during the coronavirus disease of 2019 (COVID-19) among middle school students in Jeddah, KSA.

Vaccines are an important part of the COVID-19 pandemic response plan. This cross-sectional study aims to assess the attitude and perception levels of parents toward COVID-19 vaccines for children aged 0–18 years in the Aseer region of Saudi Arabia. Data were analyzed using SPSS version 16.0.

The outbreak of Covid-19 and consequent school closures created a considerable challenge for educational systems around the world. Many countries have shifted to online learning and other digital alternatives to ensure continuity in education. Within this global and historical context of the Covid-19 pandemic, the present study aimed to explore teachers’ attitudes towards the use of online learning for young children in Saudi Arabia. A total of 346 early childhood teachers were surveyed during school closures and the concomitant shift to online learning and teaching. The teachers who participated were recruited from public and private kindergartens and early childhood centers. The respondents completed a survey consisting of two scales developed for the purposes of this study.

Emergency transition to online due to the coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) pandemic has created unprecedented challenges in schooling. There is a dearth of information on the perception of Arab high school students and parents regarding the negative effects of online learning during Covid-19. Qualitative analysis of data from a multisite ethnographic-centered study collected in nine Arab countries. Data presented are only the ones recorded from students and parents. Raw data were abstracted using a mind-mapping software and coded using words. The perceived negative effects of students and parents on several aspects of the transition to online learning such as the needed technical adjustments, impact on parents, perceptions of learning online versus face to face, pedagogical drawbacks, and psychological effects are described and discussed in light of results of previous studies. In spite of cultural differences, Arab high school students and parents face the same challenges and difficulties reported in other parts of the world. The overarching theme that emerges both for parents and children is the perceived superiority of face-to-face learning in the structured environment of the school for a more holistic learning and socialization experience of students and for better long-term outcomes.

The aim of this case study is to present information on national or government-led distance learning programmes in response to the disruption caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. It is hoped that this will enable reflection on the policy responses and their effectiveness in minimizing disruption and learning loss, enabling the continuity and quality of learning, and maintaining inclusion and equity.

Childhood obesity and pediatric metabolic syndrome (MetS) have steadily increased during the last decade in Saudi Arabia. Intervention programs to prevent cardiometabolic disorders in Arab youth are needed. In this multi-school intervention study which was disrupted by COVID-19-imposed lockdowns (September 2019–April 2021), a 12-month lifestyle education program focused on improving the cardiometabolic status of Arab adolescents was investigated. A total of 2,677 Saudi students aged 12–18 years were recruited from 60 different secondary and preparatory year schools in Riyadh city, Saudi Arabia. The intervention was initially in-person counseling sessions and the subsequent sessions conducted virtually post-pandemic. Baseline anthropometrics and fasting blood samples for glucose, HbA1c, and lipid assessments were collected at baseline and after 12 months (704 participants).

This study aims to determine the role of the family in promoting an active and healthy lifestyle for children aged 3–12 years during the COVID-19 pandemic in the Qassim region in light of Saudi Arabia's Vision 2030 program. This study is important in defining the role of the family in promoting an active lifestyle for children during the COVID-19 pandemic because the family is primarily responsible for promoting a healthy lifestyle for children. Responses of 320 parents completing an online survey about their children's physical health during the pandemic were evaluated.

The SARS-CoV-2 Omicron spread fast globally and became the predominant variant in many countries. Resumption of public regular life activities, including in-person schooling, presented parents with new sources of worry. Thus, it is important to study parental worry about the Omicron variant, willingness to vaccinate their children, and knowledge about school-based COVID-19 precautionary measures. Methods: A national, cross-sectional, pilot-validated online questionnaire targeting parents in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) was distributed between 31 December 2021, and 7 January 2022. The survey included sociodemographic, COVID-19 infection data, parental and children vaccination status, attitudes towards booster vaccine, parents’ Omicron-related perceptions and worries, and attitude towards in-person schooling.

This study investigated how children's 24-hour (24-h) movement behaviours were affected by SARS-CoV-2 (COVID-19) in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Previous research examined 24-h movement behaviours in Saudi Arabia seven months after the World Health Organization (WHO) declared COVID-19 a global pandemic. This repeat cross-sectional study examined changes in 24-h movement behaviours 12 months after the WHO declaration. The Time 2 survey repeated five months (1 March – 15 May 2021) after Time 1 survey (1 October – 11 November 2020). The survey was distributed to parents of children aged 6–12 years across Saudi Arabia via an online survey. Children were classified as meeting 24-h movement guidelines if they reported uninterrupted sleep for 9–11 h per night,  2 h of recreational sedentary screen time (RST) per day and  60 min of moderate-to vigorous-intensity physical activity (MVPA) per day. A total of 1 045 parents from all regions of Saudi Arabia responded (42.4%). Only 1.8% of children met all components of the guidelines, compared to 3.4% in Time 1. In the present study, girls spent more days per week in MVPA  60 min duration than boys (3.0 vs 2.6; p ¼ 0.025), while boys had spent more days per week engaged in activities that strengthened muscle and bone than  girls (3.0 vs 2.8; p ¼ 0.019). Healthy levels of physical activity (PA), sedentary behaviour (SB) and sleep further declined in Saudi children five months after the Time 1 survey. These challenges require urgent intervention to ensure children's movement behaviours improve as Saudi Arabia moves out of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Parents' hesitancy (PH) toward childhood vaccination, including the vaccine of coronavirus disease (COVID-19), is one of the top public health threats. We aim to assess the PH toward children COVID-19 vaccination as compared to PH toward children routine vaccination among the residents of Saudi Arabia. Before the official approval of children's COVID-19 vaccination in the country, a cross-sectional study using an electronically distributed survey was performed. Responses from parents of children younger than 18 years of age were accepted. The Oxford COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy scale (OC19-VHS) and the routine vaccination hesitancy scale (R-VHS) were used. Parents were classified as hesitant, non-hesitant, and unsure.

When health experts declared COVID-19 to be a global pandemic, they recognized the virus as a major environmental factor that could affect the practice of breastfeeding. A few studies focused on the effect of COVID-19 on mothers who gave birth during the pandemic. The purpose of this study is to explore the experience of Saudi Arabian breastfeeding mothers during the COVID-19 pandemic. This study used a descriptive phenomenology qualitative design and a convenience sample of 18 mothers who breastfed their children beginning in March 2020. Data were collected through semi-structured, open-ended phone interviews and analyzed using thematic analysis. The mothers were between 27 and 36 years old, and most of them had previous breastfeeding experience.