Children and COVID-19 Research Library

The purpose of this study is to investigate to what extent perceived Covid-19-crisis intensity (PCCI) leads to the experience of parental burnout (PB), a syndrome characterized by exhaustion, emotional detachment from one’s own children and a sense of inefficacy in the role as parent. Furthermore, the mediating role of work–family conflict (WFC) is examined. The buffering effect of family supportive organizational perceptions during the pandemic (FSOP-p) on the relationship between work–family conflict and parental burnout is also explored. Data were collected in March–April 2021 and March/April 2022. In spring 2021, 222 Italian working parents with at least one minor child living at home filled out the questionnaire.

Existing research demonstrated large deteriorations in parent, child, and family well-being within 2 months after the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. Yet, little is known about the trajectories of families' adjustment in the following months, including what risk factors are associated with changes in families' adjustment. The current study examined (1) change in the parent, child, and family well-being over time; (2) associations of pandemic-related stressors, financial and social distancing-associated stress, with well-being between and within families; and (3) the role of local COVID-19 prevalence, prior participation in family-focused prevention, and parent gender. From April 2020 to January 2021, 393 parents from 235 families reported five times on parent mental health, child behavior problems, family relationships, and pandemic-related stressors.

The purpose of this paper is to present a reading of child protection and welfare practice in the recent covid 19 pandemic, with reference to several popular concepts in social work. The focus is on the relevance of these concepts to the contemporary circumstances in which child protection and welfare social workers often now find themselves. The specific intention is to extract learning from four traditionally popular approaches in social work, namely, resilience-building, systems theory, ACES and trauma-informed approaches. This will be achieved by first introducing, and then explaining key ideas and conventions of each approach. Here, relevant and established literature will be referenced to inform explanations. As the utility of the systemic perspective for child protection work is already well established, the paper considers how this perspective can be extended to assist in work with children and young people in the pandemic who have Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs). In this paper, exploration of the detail of that extension lies in resilience building and trauma-informed practice. Whilst concepts of trauma-sensitivity and resilience are variously embedded in ACEs literature, their mutual treatment tends to be deficient in one regard. Specifically, these concepts are often not thought about in a systemic manner, necessitating the inclusion of a systemic lens.

The COVID-19 pandemic has greatly altered the lives of children and youth throughout the world, with significant implications for their long-term health and well-being. Children were largely excluded from the development and implementation of the various pandemic mitigation strategies and policies, yet their lives were significantly affected. This study sought to shed light on children’s perspectives and experiences during the COVID-19 pandemic, the various ways it impacted their health and well-being, along with the resources which allowed them to continue to flourish in the face of extreme hardship. It presents a subset of findings regarding the COVID-19 pandemic from the Youth Lens study, with 65 youth (aged 10–18) from urban communities in Cleveland, OH, USA. It utilized a participatory methodology with youth, including the data collection techniques of photo voice, community mapping, group discussion, individual interviews, and journaling. This study highlights important and timely findings related to children’s well-being during the COVID-19 pandemic from the youth’s perspectives and underscores potential ways to address their challenges and concerns

As the COVID-19 pandemic unfolded, Pathfinder’s AmplifyPF program conducted a study across 17 urban and peri-urban districts in Burkina Faso, Côte d’Ivoire, Niger, and Togo that assessed the influence of the crisis on family planning services. The study findings captured in this report show that family planning services were sustained at pre-pandemic levels. Governments took quick action to mitigate the effects of the pandemic, thereby keeping the levels of disruptions to delivery and use of essential health services below those anticipated. The study exhibits that maintaining continuity and use of family planning services during a pandemic is feasible when Ministries of Health act in collaboration with their partners to deliver an efficient, timely, and unified response that is accompanied by widespread, multichannel, supportive messaging.

Changes to income and employment are key social determinants of health that have impacted many families during the COVID-19 pandemic. This research aimed to understand how changes to employment and income influenced family environments that contribute to early childhood development and health. A concurrent triangulation mixed method design was used through a cross-sectional survey on early impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic involving families with young children in the Canadian Maritime provinces (n = 2158). Analyses included multivariate regression models to examine whether changes to employment and income predicted changes to Family access to resources and social support, parenting Abilities and self-care at home, and home Routines and Environments (FARE Change Scale). Content analysis was used to identify themes from the open-ended questions.

This study aimed to assess the associations between parents’ working conditions during the lockdown period (March-May 2020) and children’s health-related quality of life (HRQOL) over the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic in Zurich, Switzerland. It included 2211 children (6–16 years) and their parents from the prospective study Ciao Corona. Parents reported their employment status and working conditions during the lockdown. Children’s HRQOL was assessed in June-July 2020, January and March 2021 using the parents-report of the KINDL.

While rates of child maltreatment increased during the Covid-19-pandemic, face-to-face interventions to support families got difficult to carry out due to restrictions. Meanwhile, many services do not have access to parenting programs designed for digital or remote delivery. A solution employed by some services was to use video conferencing (VC) to deliver their regular parenting programs. This study examined the effectiveness of the universal group-based parenting program ABC offered through VC instead of on-site meetings during the pandemic. Pre and post measurements were collected from 469 parents participating in either 1) ABC with VC meetings only, 2) on-site meetings only, or 3) blended – a combination of VC and on-site sessions. In addition, 74 group leaders completed a survey about their experiences of VC groups.

This study examined the impact of the strict lockdown on 130 preschool-age children's daily routines and how their routine changes from pre-lockdown were related to child–parent relationship quality during the lockdown. To contain the spread of the COVID-19, the city of Wuhan underwent a strict 76-day lockdown, during which children's routines were drastically altered, yet families did not have a frame of reference to use to determine how changes in children's routines would be related to their family dynamics.

The COVID-19 pandemic and associated public health measures have interrupted the daily routines of parents and children. The purpose of this study was to explore parents’ attitudes regarding their children’s play/sport during COVID-19. A secondary objective was to explore the influence of parent demographics and parent-reported physical activity levels and risk tolerance on these attitudes. Ontario parents of children aged 12 and younger completed an online survey (August—December 2020) that assessed their attitudes (grouped by support, safety and socialization-related attitudes; n = 14 items) regarding their child(ren)’s play/sport, their physical activity levels (n = 2 items), and demographic details (n = 16 items). Two open-ended items were used to gather a deeper understanding of attitudes. Parents’ tolerance for risk was measured via the validated Tolerance of Risk in Play Scale. Descriptive statistics were calculated to describe attitudes and risk tolerance. Least Absolute Shrinkage and Selection Operator regressions were conducted to examine factors influencing parents’ attitudes. Multiple linear models were computed using the identified predictors for each attitude category. Deductive content analysis was undertaken on open-ended responses. Participants (n = 819) reported the highest scores for safety-related attitude items (M = 3.54, SD = .63) followed by socialization and support, which all influenced attitudes regarding children’s play/sport (p < .05).

Despite the increase in the number of global studies on COVID-19 that has been increasingly contagious among children, no comprehensive bibliometric studies have been found in the literature concerning COVID-19 in pediatrics. This study aimed to perform a holistic analysis of the scientific outputs about COVID-19 in pediatrics using various statistical methods. The articles published in the research area of pediatrics on COVID-19 between January 1st, 2020 and February 13th, 2022 were downloaded from the Web of Science (WoS) and analysed using various statistical methods. Spearman's correlation analysis was performed for related research. Bibliometric network visualization diagrams were generated to reveal trending topics and cross-country collaborations.

Parenting was severely affected by lockdown, school closure, illness, movement restrictions and the many sudden changes wrought by the global emergence of COVID-19. Responding to the need for a rapid emergency response to support parents and caregivers, a consortium of providers developed a suite of COVID-19 parenting resources based on evidence-based parenting interventions. Launched in March 2020, these were adapted for online use, with versions in over 100 languages, and the possibility for downloading, radio, and oral provision. A rapid qualitative evaluation initiative was conducted from September 2020 to February 2021 to inform the procedure, understand the impact and to drive future provision. The evaluation collected openended responses surveys (n = 495 participants) and in-depth interviews with parents, providers, and adolescent children (n = 22) from 14 countries and one global source. Data were gathered on parenting challenges during COVID-19 and the utility of the COVID-19 parenting resources.

Little is known about effective strategies to cope with mental health problems during the COVID-19 pandemic. The aim of current study was to assess the effectiveness of a home-based exercise programme on mental health and well-being in a group of children who were quarantined at home during the pandemic. A randomised clinical trial was conducted on children aged 9–11 during home quarantine periods due to the coronavirus outbreak. A total of 160 eligible participants were randomised into either the intervention group (IG, n = 80) or wait-list control group (CG, n = 80). Children recruited to IG engaged in a 16-session home-based physical activity programme delivered four times weekly, with a duration of sixty minutes, for four consecutive weeks.

Framed by critical literacies, the author adapted ethnographic methods to virtual spaces to examine radio as an alternative way to enhance adult understanding of children's COVID-19 experiences. Drawing on a subset of child-produced radio segments from March 2021, she foregrounds how children in an extracurricular program strategically used radio to share their pandemic experiences with their community. Supplemented by 5 months of virtual observations, she identified how child-DJs used radio to share how—through the COVID-19 pandemic—they cared about and for their community. Ultimately, she argues radio is one tool for coming to know children as community change agents.