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AUTHOR(S) Luigi De Gennaro; Serena Scarpelli; Maurizio Gorgoni
After the appearance of a novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV) during 2019, the virus has spread with alarming speed and a pandemic quickly developed. The complex consequences of the pandemic phenomenon, i.e., the consequences of the pandemic per se and the countermeasures adopted to control infections and deaths, were associated with a negative impact on sleep quality and, in general, mental health. With a global prevalence of sleep disturbances of approximately 30–40%, as suggested by meta-analytical studies a stable association with psychological distress has been repeatedly reported. In Europe, Italy was the first country to report high rates of infection and deaths, and, as a consequence, the Italian Government declared unprecedented restrictive measures with a total lockdown on 9 March 2020. Not surprisingly, many studies on the effects of the lockdown and/or the pandemic were conducted in Italy , reporting an increase in sleep difficulties associated with the pandemic, particularly during the lockdown periods. Along this vein, the Italian study by Amicucci et al. [10] also investigated the impact of the COVID-19 lockdown during Spring 2020 on sleep quality and mental health. The main merit of this study is a specific focus on two at-risk groups: late adolescents (18–20 years) and the elderly (65–75 years). The authors used a web-based survey and validated questionnaires to assess sleep quality, insomnia, stress, depression, and anxiety. The adolescents reported more insomnia symptoms, worse sleep quality, longer sleep latency, higher daytime dysfunction, a more prevalent disruption of sleep habits (bedtime, get-up time, and nap), and a more negative impact on mental health (higher levels of depression and perceived stress than the elderly). Older participants showed shorter sleep durations, lower habitual sleep efficiency, and greater use of sleep medications.
AUTHOR(S) Siiri Isokääntä; Krista Koivula; Hannu Kokki (et al.)
This study aimed to assess anxiety, depression, perceived stress, couple satisfaction and life satisfaction of parents of healthy newborns in two cohorts in 2015 and in 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic. A prospective follow-up study. It enrolled 60 parents of healthy newborns (n = 30 dyads) in 2015 and 60 parents (n = 30 dyads) in 2020. Both parents completed six valid and reliable questionnaires independently 1–2 days and 12 months after delivery: Beck Anxiety Inventory, Beck Depression Inventory-II, Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale, Perceived Stress Scale, Couple Satisfaction Index and Life Satisfaction Scale-4.
AUTHOR(S) Carolina Duarte de Souza; Beatriz Pires Coltro; Larissa Paraventi (et al.)
AUTHOR(S) Justine Dol; Brianna Hughes; Megan Aston (et al.)
This study aimed to (1) compare changes in parenting self-efficacy, social support, postpartum anxiety, and postpartum depression in Canadian women before and during the early COVID-19 pandemic; (2) explore how women with a newborn felt during the pandemic; (3) explore ways that women coped with challenges faced. A cross-sectional design was used. Prior to the pandemic, an online survey was conducted with women who an infant 6 months old or less in one of the three Eastern Canadian Maritime provinces. A similar survey was conducted during the pandemic in mid-2020.
AUTHOR(S) Jace Pillay
AUTHOR(S) Giulia M. Dotti Sani; Francesco Molteni; Simone Sarti (et al.)
AUTHOR(S) M. A. Linden; T. Forbes; M. Brown (et al.)
Family carers of people with profound and multiple intellectual disabilities (PMID) experienced a reduction in healthcare services due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Many subsequently turned to Non-Governmental Organisations who worked to support families. However, little research has sought to capture the experiences of family carers or identify effective interventions which might support them. To address these concerns we explored the views of Non-Governmental sector workers across the UK and Ireland who supported families people with PMID during the COVID-19 pandemic. We also sought to explore their views on the characteristics of online support programmes for family carers. This study employed a qualitative design using focus groups with participants (n = 24) from five Non-Governmental Organisations across the UK and Ireland. A focus group guide included questions on challenges, supports, coping and resources which helped during lockdown restrictions. Focus groups were held online, were audio recorded and transcribed verbatim. The resulting transcripts were pseudonymised and subjected to thematic analysis.
AUTHOR(S) Bekir Taskesen; Omer Kardas; Kamil Yılmaz
AUTHOR(S) Laura Marciano; Kasisomayajula Viswanath; Rosalba Morese (et al.)
During the COVID-19 lockdown in 2020, adolescents' mental health was largely undermined. A general increment in screen time was reported. However, the long-term effects of the latter on adolescents' mental health are still little explored. In the present natural experiment, we investigated these effects using longitudinal data collected before and after the first lockdown in Switzerland. Data come from 674 Swiss adolescents (56.7% females, Mage = 14.45, SDage = 0.50) during Spring 2019 (T1) and Autumn 2020 (T2) as part of the longitudinal MEDIATICINO study. Self-reported mental health measures included somatic symptoms, inattention, anxiety, irritability, anger, sleep problems, obsessive-compulsive symptoms, loneliness, and depression. Measures for screen-media activities included time spent on the Internet, smartphones, social media, video gaming, instant messaging, and television viewing. They were all assessed at T1 and T2.
AUTHOR(S) Junliang He; Longkun Qiu
AUTHOR(S) Luciana Lassance; Claude Bélanger; Mathilde Baumann (et al.)
AUTHOR(S) Emily M. Cohodes; Sarah McCauley; David A. Preece (et al.)
The COVID-19 pandemic has severely impacted children’s mental health. All children have not been affected equally, however, and whether parental emotion socialization might buffer or exacerbate the impact of COVID-19 on children’s mental health remains an important question. During the first peak of the COVID-19 pandemic in the U.S. N = 200 parents of children ages 0–17 (52.5% female) completed questionnaires related to parental assistance with children’s emotion regulation, symptomatology, and exposure to COVID-19-related stress. Parents were 74% Non-Hispanic/Latino/a White, 13% Asian, 4.5% Hispanic/Latino/a, 4% Black/African American, 2.5% Native American, and 1.5% bi/multiracial; 0.5% of participants preferred not to state their race/ethnicity. In a series of linear regression analyses, we examined whether parental assistance with children’s execution of emotion regulation strategies – across a variety of prototypically-adaptive and -maladaptive strategies – moderates the association between children’s exposure to COVID-19-related stress and symptomatology.
AUTHOR(S) Laura A. McGuinn; Nadya Rivera Rivera; Erika Osorio-Valencia (et al.)
This study assessed associations between maternal stress, social support, and child resiliency during the COVID-19 pandemic in relation to changes in anxiety and depression symptoms in children in Mexico City. Participants included 464 mother-child pairs from a longitudinal birth cohort in Mexico City. At ages 8–11 (pre-COVID, 2018–2019) and 9–12 (during COVID, May–Nov 2020) years, depressive symptoms were assessed using the child and parent-reported Children’s Depressive Inventory. Anxiety symptoms were assessed using the child-reported Revised Manifest Anxiety Scale. Linear regression models were used to estimate associations between maternal stress, social support, and resiliency in relation to changes in depressive and anxiety symptoms. The study additionally assessed outcomes using clinically relevant cut-points. Models were adjusted for child age and sex and maternal socioeconomic status and age.
AUTHOR(S) Natasha Ramzan; Rebecca Dixey; Andre Morris
AUTHOR(S) Johanna K. P. Greeson; Sarah E. Gzesh; Sarah Wasch (et al.)
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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