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Children and COVID-19 Research Library

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

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1 - 15 of 50
Cough, sneeze, pass it on – pupils' understanding of infectious diseases in the aftermath of COVID-19

AUTHOR(S)
Anna-Clara Rönner; Anna Jakobsson; Niklas Gericke

Published: January 2023   Journal: Journal of Biological Education
The COVID-19 pandemic had an immense impact on communities around the world. We know that new epidemic-prone diseases will emerge in the future. Consequently, it is important to investigate what impact the current pandemic had on school children’s understanding of infectious diseases in order to develop biology education based on that novel understanding. The aim of this study was to explore Swedish middle school (10-12-year-old) pupils’ understanding of infectious diseases and their perceived sources of knowledge. Data was collected through individual semi-structured interviews with fifteen pupils and analysed by thematic coding.
Children as co‐researchers in pandemic times: Power and participation in the use of digital dialogues with children during the COVID‐19 lockdown

AUTHOR(S)
Aoife Donegan; Dympna Devine; Gabriela Martinez-Sainz (et al.)

Published: November 2022   Journal: Children & Society
This paper documents co-participatory research with children in six primary schools in Ireland during the COVID-19 pandemic. It explores the use of what we term digital dialogues with diverse groups of children aged 9–10 years as members of Child Research Advisory Groups. The paper conceptualises the digital dialogues as sites of resistance as well as constraint, empowering children to articulate their voices in relation to schooling and the pandemic, whilst mediated by power dynamics—between adults and children, and between children, in the articulation of those voices.
Transmission of SARS-CoV-2 in a primary school setting with and without public health measures using real-world contact data: a modelling study

AUTHOR(S)
Lixiang Yan; Stella Talic; Holly Wild (et al.)

Published: October 2022   Journal: Journal of Global Health

Stringent public health measures have been shown to influence the transmission of SARS-CoV-2 within school environments. We investigated the potential transmission of SARS-CoV-2 in a primary school setting with and without public health measures, using fine-grained physical positioning traces captured before the COVID-19 pandemic. Approximately 172.63 million position data from 98 students and six teachers from an open-plan primary school were used to predict a potential transmission of SARS-CoV-2 in primary school settings.

Rural parent and elementary school student resilience to COVID-19: disability status and parental predictors of change

AUTHOR(S)
Suzannah B. Chatlos; Preeti G. Samudra; Jillian M. Magoon (et al.)

Published: September 2022   Journal: School Psychology International
Little is known about how the COVID-19 pandemic relates to child and parent functioning in a rural population. The present study investigated how disability status and parent factors related to resilience in a rural population before and after the shift to remote instruction. Parents of elementary-aged children in a rural area of the U.S. completed an online questionnaire, rating their own functioning and their child's academic, cognitive, and socioemotional functioning (1) retrospectively thinking back to a month before the pandemic, and (2) at the time of the survey, approximately four months after the onset of pandemic changes.
Reading and math skills development among Finnish primary school children before and after COVID-19 school closure

AUTHOR(S)
Marja-Kristiina Lerkkanen; Eija Pakarinen; Jenni Salminen (et al.)

Published: September 2022   Journal: Reading and Writing
This study quantified the possible learning losses in reading and math skills among a sample of Finnish Grade 3 children (n = 198) who spent 8 weeks in distance learning during the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic in spring 2020. It compared their reading and math skill development trajectories across Grades 1, 2, and 4 to a pre-COVID sample (N = 378). It also examined if gender, parental education, maternal homework involvement, and child’s task-avoidant behavior predict children’s academic skills at Grade 4 differently in the pre-COVID sample compared with the COVID sample.
Attitude toward COVID-19 vaccines and its association with depressive symptoms in 386,924 Chinese primary school students during COVID-19 epidemic normalization

AUTHOR(S)
Qingqing Xu; Zhenxing Mao; Keliang Fan (et al.)

Published: September 2022   Journal: Journal of Psychosomatic Research

Before Chinese primary school students were generally vaccinated against the COVID-19 vaccine, this study evaluated the willingness of this population and its influencing factors before vaccination, and evaluate its association between attitudes toward the vaccine and depressive symptoms. A cross-sectional study involved 386,924 primary school students using a cluster sampling method during May 21–27, 2021. The Chinese version of the Children Depression Inventory (CDI) was used to assess depressive symptoms. Multiple logistic regression analysis models were used to estimate the relationship between attitudes toward COVID-19 vaccines and depressive symptoms.

Progression of vision in Chinese school-aged children before and after COVID-19

AUTHOR(S)
Wenjing Wang; Shuzhen Peng; Faxue Zhang (et al.)

Published: August 2022   Journal: International Journal of Public Health

This study aims to investigate the changes of vision, including the prevalence of myopia, hyperopia, poor vision, and the spherical equivalent refraction (SER), in school-aged children before and after the pandemic of Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19). A school-based vision screening study was performed on children in 133 primary schools in Wuhan. This study was conducted in 4 consecutive years (2018–2021).

Parents' perspectives regarding anti-Asian racism during COVID-19: supporting elementary students at school

AUTHOR(S)
Cixin Wang; Charissa Cheah; Jia Li Liu (et al.)

Published: July 2022   Journal: School Psychology Review
A surge of racism and xenophobia toward Asian Americans during the COVID-19 pandemic has led to high levels of stress within this community. In-depth semistructured interviews were conducted with 40 Chinese American parents (35 mothers, Mage = 40.86; SD = 5.59) with elementary school-aged children (Mage = 8.76; SD= 2.17) to understand parents’ perception of their children’s experiences with discrimination and how schools can support Asian American students. Interviews were coded using thematic analyses. The majority of parents (n = 28, 70%) expressed concerns about racial discrimination for their children. However, 28 (70%) parents did not have any specific discussions about racism and discrimination with their children partially because parents felt that the topic of race/racial discrimination was too complex for children to understand. Some parents (22.5%) were also worried that too much discussion about race and discrimination would trigger more discrimination.
The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the physical fitness of primary school students in China based on the Bronfenbrenner ecological theory

AUTHOR(S)
Hailing Li; Jadeera Phaik Geok Cheong

Published: July 2022   Journal: Frontiers in Psychology
After the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, nation lockdown became an effective way to isolate the spread of the virus. Schools were postponed, students had to stay at home and opportunities for physical activity amongst school children were severely affected. This research sought to determine the impact of the pandemic on the physical fitness of primary school students. In total, 1,235 students from grades one to five in a primary school in Beijing took part in this research. Using the Chinese National Student Physical Fitness Standard as a guide, the students were subjected to BMI, vital capacity, 50 m sprint, sit and reach, timed rope-skipping, timed sit-ups, and 50m × 8 shuttle run measurements. These tests were administered once before and once after the lockdown period.
Children's experiences of death anxiety and responses to the Covid-19 pandemic

AUTHOR(S)
K. Jones; Ben Hughes

Published: June 2022   Journal: Illness, Crisis & Loss
The aim of this study was to explore children's experience and responses to the Covid-19 pandemic through their illustrations and short narrations. During October 2020 and January 2021 data was collected from thirteen children aged 9–10 years old in a primary school in the North-West of England. Children were asked to draw their thoughts and feelings about the pandemic and to write a short narration to accompany the drawing. Thematic analysis of data revealed that during the pandemic children at this age have an understanding of death, experience death anxiety and are able to use creative expression to facilitate meaning of the impact of lockdown on their lives such as feeling isolated, lonely, sad and bored. Creative expression also facilitated adaptive coping mechanisms derived from being able to spend more time with family. The data on primary school children is part of a larger study which involved surveys and interviews with children aged 12–16 years in secondary schools.
Teachers' perceptions on the literacy skills of 5th Grade primary school students during Covid-19 pandemic in Mandailing Natal Regency

AUTHOR(S)
Suadi Suadi; Rahmi Seri Hanida; Parulian Siregar

Published: June 2022   Journal: Jurnal Kependidikan
This study aims to discover the literacy skills of 5th grade primary school students during covid-19 outbreak in Mandailing Natal Regency based on teachers’ perceptions. Descriptive qualitative approach was applied with a simple quantitative support in form of percentages. The respondents in this study were 23 primary school teachers of fifth year class from 23 different primary schools located in 23 districs in Mandailing Natal Regency. To obtain the data, a semi structured interview was conducted adapted from four literacy skills consisting of listening, speaking, reading and writing. The obtained data subsequently were analyzed by thematic analysis based on specific separated themes.
Cite this research | Open access | Vol.: 8 | Issue: 2 | No. of pages: 397-406 | Language: English | Topics: Education | Tags: child education, COVID-19 response, lockdown, primary schools, remote learning, school attendance, social distance, teachers | Countries: Indonesia
Implementation of a coordinated approach to child health program at a rural elementary school during the COVID-19 pandemic

AUTHOR(S)
Melissa Perian; Marcia Cooke; Henna Muzaffar (et al.)

Published: June 2022   Journal: Current Developments in Nutrition

A Coordinated Approach to Child Health (CATCH) is an evidence-based school health program focusing on increasing healthy eating and physical activity and reducing screen time. This project aimed to determine if CATCH program will have significant effects on self-rated knowledge, habits of physical activity, healthy eating (fruit and vegetable consumption), and screen time among 3rd and 5th-grade students at a rural elementary school during the 2020–2021 school year. To evaluate this 4-month project, a pre- and post-intervention School Physical Activity and Nutrition (SPAN) survey was distributed to 51 3rd and 5th-grade students. The program included six 30-minute education sessions specific to grade level and healthy snacks including fruits and vegetables. A family fun event (virtual 2K walk/run due to COVID-19) was organized. Prizes (i.e., water bottles, jump ropes) were given to students for participating in the family fun event and at Track and Field day to encourage healthy behavior.

Change in BMI and fitness among primary school children in Austria: a 24-month follow-up study of 303 children measured before and during the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic

AUTHOR(S)
Gerald Jarnig; Reinhold Kerbl; Mireille N. M. van Poppel (et al.)

Published: May 2022   Journal: Sports
The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic not only impacted the health of school children directly through SARS-CoV-2 infections, but the associated closures of schools and sports facilities also resulted in long-term negative side effects. The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of COVID-19-related mitigation measures on the health and fitness status of primary school children in Austria. A total of 303 primary school children participated in the longitudinal study. Data on height, weight, and fitness were collected before the COVID-19 pandemic (September 2019) and at one-year intervals (September 2020 and September 2021) during the course of the pandemic.
The impact of the corona virus 2019 on education: Challenges related to distance learning for children of the preparatory classes (5–6 year-olds)

AUTHOR(S)
Gentiana Shahini; Tringa Azizi

Published: May 2022   Journal: Policy Futures in Education
The implementation of preventive measures against the spread of COVID-19 in Kosovo resulted in the closure of educational institutions for all levels of education. The transitioning process from face-to-face to virtual or online classes’ format was also coordinated for pre-school children, enabling their development at home. The research aims to shed light on the problems, needs, and difficulties the children of preparatory classes, their parents, and teachers face since the implementation of distance learning measures. For completing this survey, a qualitative research design was used. The empirical research was carried out through discussion in focus groups and semi-structured interviews.
Estimated transmission outcomes and costs of SARS-CoV-2 diagnostic testing, screening, and surveillance strategies among a simulated population of primary school students.

AUTHOR(S)
Alyssa Bilinski; Andrea Ciaranello; Meagan C. Fitzpatrick (et al.)

Published: April 2022   Journal: JAMA Pediatrics

Costs and benefits of COVID-19 testing strategies were evaluated in the context of full-time, in-person kindergarten through eighth grade (K-8) education at different community incidence levels. An updated version of a previously published agent-based network model was used to simulate transmission in elementary and middle school communities in the United States. Assuming dominance of the delta SARS-CoV-2 variant, the model simulated an elementary school (638 students in grades K-5, 60 staff) and middle school (460 students grades 6-8, 51 staff).

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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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