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Children and COVID-19 Research Library

UNICEF Innocenti's curated library of COVID-19 + Children research

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16 - 30 of 61
Early (years) reactions: comparative analysis of early childhood policies and programs during the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic

AUTHOR(S)
Joanne Kearon; Sarah Carsley; Meta van den Heuvel (et al.)

Published: July 2022   Journal: BMC Public Health volume

During the first wave of COVID-19 there was little evidence to guide appropriate child and family programs and policy supports. This study compared policies and programs implemented to support early child health and well-being during the first wave of COVID-19 in Australia, Canada, the Netherlands, Singapore, the UK, and the USA. Program and policy themes were focused on prenatal care, well-baby visits and immunization schedules, financial supports, domestic violence and housing, childcare supports, child protective services, and food security.

The kids are alright (?). Infants' development and COVID-19 pandemic: a cross-sectional study

AUTHOR(S)
Eleonora Ferrari; Lucia Palandri; Laura Lucaccioni (et al.)

Published: June 2022   Journal: International Journal of Public Health

The study aimed to assess and compare the global development in six-month-old infants before and during the pandemic restrictive social distancing measures. This cross-sectional nested study involved infants assessed through the Griffiths Scales of Child Development (GSCD) between September 2019 and April 2021. Infants were classified in a pre-COVID or a COVID group, considering the evaluation date and the restrictive measures in place. GSCD subscales and General Development Scores (GDS) were calculated and compared.

Household food security during the COVID-19 pandemic as a risk factor for toddler stunting in Majene

AUTHOR(S)
Rahmaniah ; Masniati ; Fauziah (et al.)

Published: June 2022   Journal: International Journal of Multidisciplinary Research and Studies

Stunting is a condition of failing to grow a toddler as an accumulation of chronic nutritional problems. Toddlers are categorized as stunting if the z-score is in the range of -3 to <-2SD based on the Height By Age index. Stunting children are more susceptible to disease and contribute to a child's below-average level of intelligence. The long-term effects of stunting can stunt economic growth as well as increase a nation's poverty. This study aims to analyze household food security during the covid-19 pandemic with stunting events in toddlers aged 6-23 months in Pangali-Ali Village, Majene, West Sulawesi.

Breastfeeding, complementary feeding, physical activity, screen use, and hours of sleep in children under 2 years during lockdown by the COVID-19 pandemic in Chile

AUTHOR(S)
Edson Bustos-Arriagada; Karina Etchegaray-Armijo; Ángelo Liberona-Ortiz (et al.)

Published: June 2022   Journal: Children
Infants and children are a risk group in terms of developing healthy habits, an important aspect if we consider that many of them were born during the COVID-19 pandemic. This study's objective was to evaluate compliance with lifestyle recommendations proposed at the national and international levels in children aged 0 to 23 months during confinement due to the COVID-19 pandemic in Chile. A cross-sectional study was conducted, and 211 online questionnaires were completed with sociodemographic and lifestyle information of children.
Implementation evaluation of HUGS/Abrazos during the COVID-19 pandemic: a program to foster resiliency in pregnancy and early childhood

AUTHOR(S)
Meisui Liu; Meg Simione; Meghan E. Perkins (et al.)

Published: May 2022   Journal: Frontiers in Public Health
Early life adversity can significantly impact child development and health outcomes throughout the life course. With the COVID-19 pandemic exacerbating preexisting and introducing new sources of toxic stress, social programs that foster resilience are more necessary now than ever. The Helping Us Grow Stronger (HUGS/Abrazos) program fills a crucial need for protective buffers during the COVID-19 pandemic, which has escalated toxic stressors affecting pregnant women and families with young children. HUGS/Abrazos combines patient navigation, behavioral health support, and innovative tools to ameliorate these heightened toxic stressors. We used a mixed-methods approach, guided by the Reach, Effectiveness, Adoption, Implementation, and Maintenance (RE-AIM) framework, to evaluate the implementation of the HUGS/Abrazos program at Massachusetts General Hospital from 6/30/2020–8/31/2021.
A toy bear in lockdown, child-parent attachment and hegemonic peer-orientation

AUTHOR(S)
Carol Mutch; Noah Romero

Published: May 2022   Journal: Waikato Journal of Education

Towards the end of the first COVID-19 lockdown in early 2020, in Aotearoa New Zealand, the authors conducted a small-scale study to gain insight into children’s responses to the pandemic restrictions. As it was not possible to interview children ourselves, we recruited parents to read a set of digital stories about a toy bear in lockdown to their children and to record the ensuing conversations. The recorded conversations were returned to the authors to be transcribed and analysed. One intriguing finding was the strength of children’s feelings of loss in regard to their friendship groups, despite the fact that the lockdowns enabled them to spend more time with their immediate families. This article examines the phenomenon of the importance of peer-orientation over family-orientation as it appeared in the data. Hegemonic thinking and attachment theory are used to further explore this phenomenon and discuss how the current educational trends towards personal independence over family bonds might have led to some of the feelings of loss and anxiety highlighted in the data.

Effects of early-life poverty on health and human capital in children and adolescents: analyses of national surveys and birth cohort studies in LMICs
Published: April 2022   Journal: The Lancet
The survival and nutrition of children and, to a lesser extent, adolescents have improved substantially in the past two decades. Improvements have been linked to the delivery of effective biomedical, behavioural, and environmental interventions; however, large disparities exist between and within countries. Using data from 95 national surveys in low-income and middle-income countries (LMICs), this study analyses how strongly the health, nutrition, and cognitive development of children and adolescents are related to early-life poverty. Additionally, using data from six large, long-running birth cohorts in LMICs, it shows how early-life poverty can have a lasting effect on health and human capital throughout the life course. The study emphasises the importance of implementing multisectoral anti-poverty policies and programmes to complement specific health and nutrition interventions delivered at an individual level, particularly at a time when COVID-19 continues to disrupt economic, health, and educational gains achieved in the recent past.
The analysis of the influence of information about the Covid-19 pandemic on toddlers' parenting

AUTHOR(S)
Emy Sutiyarsih; Narita Diatanti; Eli Lea WP

Published: April 2022   Journal: Jurnal Ners dan Kebidanan

The government's policy in implementing the New Normal to prevent the spread of COVID-19 has changed all aspects of society, including the family environment. In current conditions, parenting is the most important thing in determining optimal child development (Dewi and Khotimah, 2020). The conditions of parenting and communication in the family have both positive and negative impacts on children's development. (Kuswanti, Munadhil, Zainal & Oktarina, 2020). The aim of this study was to analyze the effect of information about the COVID-19 pandemic on toddlers’ parenting. This study was a cross-sectional analytical study. This study used a bivariate data analysis with Chi Square test

Developmental losses in young children from pre-primary program closures during the COVID-19 pandemic

AUTHOR(S)
Alejandra Abufhele; David Bravo; Florencia López Bóo (et al.)

Published: March 2022
The learning and developmental losses from pre-primary program closures due to COVID-19 may be unprecedented. These disruptions early in life can be long-lasting. Although there is evidence about the effects of school closures on older children, there is currently no evidence on such losses for children in their early years. This paper is among the first to quantify the actual impact of pandemic-related closures on child development, in this case for a sample of young children in Chile, where school and childcare closures lasted for about a year. It uses a unique dataset collected face-to-face in December 2020, which includes child development indicators for general development, language development, social-emotional development, and executive function.
Early experience unpredictability in child development as a model for understanding the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic: a translational neuroscience perspective

AUTHOR(S)
Sihong Liu; Philip A. Fisher

Published: March 2022   Journal: Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience
Extensive evidence links adverse experiences during childhood to a wide range of negative consequences in biological, socioemotional, and cognitive development. Unpredictability is a core element underlying most forms of early adversity; it has been a focus of developmental research for many years and has been receiving increasing attention recently. This article proposes a conceptual model to describe how unpredictable and adverse early experiences affect children’s neurobiological, behavioral, and psychological development in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Research priorities for early childhood development in the context of COVID-19: results from an international survey

AUTHOR(S)
Kerrie Proulx; Kristy Hackett; Shekufeh Zonji

Institution: Early Childhood Development Action Network
Published: February 2022

This project was undertaken in December 2021 using a short online questionnaire. Respondents were asked to provide demographic information and to select up to three urgent COVID-19 research priorities among a list of 15 topics related to early childhood development and nurturing care. This list was generated by reviewing the World Health Organization’s (WHO) Nurturing Care Framework and expert opinion. Space was provided for respondents to list additional research priorities not included in the list. The questionnaire was completed by 98 respondents from 47 mostly low- and middle-income countries. Most respondents were professionals in the early childhood development space and users or consumers of research (59%), including pediatricians, early childhood educators and program managers. Thirty-six percent of respondents were researchers, and 5% worked for research funding agencies.

Children’s daily activities and well-being during the COVID-19 lockdown: associations with child and family characteristics

AUTHOR(S)
Vitor H. Oliveira; Paula C. Martins; Graça S. Carvalho

Published: February 2022   Journal: Current Psychology
Learning, leisure, social, and movement activities are essential facets of children´s development affecting their physical, mental, and social well-being. During the first Covid-19 lockdown and post-lockdown period, children´s everyday lives were disrupted and altered in significant ways for an extended period, raising several concerns regarding its negative effects. This study investigated children´s daily activities during the lockdown and post-lockdown period, considering child and family factors that influenced their participation, and the effects of daily activities on child well-being. Cross-sectional data were collected during June and July 2020 from a sample of 3rd and 4th graders (n = 110) and their parents. Participants reported the intensity of children´s weekly participation in various learning, leisure, socializing, and movement activities, child and family characteristics, and child well-being outcomes.
Socioemotional competencies of Indonesian preschoolers: comparisons between the Pre-Pandemic and pandemic periods and among DKI Jakarta, DI Yogyakarta and West Java Provinces

AUTHOR(S)
Sri Indah Pujiastuti; Sofia Hartati; Jun Wangb

Published: January 2022   Journal: Early Education and Development
Despite being the largest archipelago and the fourth populous country in the world, Indonesia has received limited research attention to the socioemotional development of its diverse child populations. As the corona virus 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic significantly interrupted the life of individuals and families all over the world, it is also critical time to better understand the status and need of Indonesian young children’s socioemotional development to inform corresponding practices and policies. This study investigated the differences in Indonesian preschoolers’ socioemotional competencies between the pre-pandemic and pandemic periods, as well as across three representative provinces of DKI Jakarta, DI Yogyakarta, and West Java.
Reopening childcare and early learning services: guidelines for East Asia and the Pacific
Institution: *UNICEF
Published: January 2022

The COVID-19 pandemic threatens this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for children in early childhood to develop healthy brains, bodies, and lives. While countries in East Asia and the Pacific have made substantial progress in investing in early childhood development (ECD), services supporting the development and learning of young children will likely suffer more than other education levels as they remain closed or in limited duration for fear of children contracting COVID-19.  This publication has been developed based on LACRO’s publication and adapted to suit the East Asia and the Pacific regional needs and context. It is intended for UNICEF country offices in the region to support their role in providing technical assistance to government partners and other organizations. The publication provides guidelines for reopening of services for young children aged 2 years up until the official primary school entry, either 5 or 6 years, and their families. It also includes a checklist to conduct rapid analysis of the services’ conditions and designing plans for a safe reopening. 

Home environment and social skills of Japanese preschool children pre- and post-COVID-19

AUTHOR(S)
Xiang Li; Dandan Jiao; Munenori Matsumoto (et al.)

Published: January 2022   Journal: Early Child Development and Care
The COVID-19 pandemic has impacted the daily life and social relationships of pre-school children globally. While many studies have examined the impact of the pandemic on children, few have compared the home environment and children’s social skills before and after the pandemic. To address this research gap, this study used data from the Japan Child Care Cohort study, which included questions on home environment answered by parents (1748 in 2019 and 1349 in 2020) of children aged 0–6 years using self-reported questionnaires and data on the social skills of children aged 1–6 years (1917 in 2019 and 1989 in 2020) that were evaluated by childcare professionals in childcare centres. Using the Chi-square test, home environments and social skills were compared.
16 - 30 of 61

UNICEF Innocenti's Children and COVID-19 Library is a database collecting research from around the world on COVID-19 and its impacts on children and adolescents.

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