Children and COVID-19 Research Library

This study explores the effects of the pandemic on stress, depressive symptoms and parenting practices of mothers with children aged between 24- and 30-months, residents in Santiago, Chile, and the differences between foreign‐born and native‐born mothers. Using data from the longitudinal project Mil Primeros Días and lagged-dependent models, it analyzed parental stress, depressive symptoms and parenting practices for native-born and foreign-born mothers. Lagged-dependent model allows us to take advantage of the longitudinal data by controlling for the previous score and baseline individual characteristics.

Breastfeeding mothers have had limited access to breastfeeding support throughout the COVID-19 pandemic. This study aims to investigate breastfeeding practices during the COVID-19 period and to determine the factors associated with supporting exclusive breastfeeding. A sequential explanatory mixed methods approach was adopted, including a quantitative method in the first phase and qualitative method in the second phase. Mothers whose babies were aged over 6 months to 24 months old from July to September 2021 in Pekanbaru City were selected as research subjects. Data analysis was performed with multivariate and deductive content analysis. Of 156 participants, 97 mothers (62.2%) exclusively breastfed their babies. Of those, mothers who delivered exclusive breastfeeding worked less than eight hours per day, were aged 17–25 and had low education. Though by using exclusive breastfeeding practice as a reference, associated supports, including emotional, instrumental, appraisal and information regarding exclusive breastfeeding practice were insignificant; however, mothers who practice exclusive breastfeeding had higher information support.

The novel coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) continues to disrupt the availability and utilization of routine and emergency health care services, with differing impacts in jurisdictions across the world. In this scoping review, we set out to synthesize documentation of the direct and indirect effect of the pandemic, and national responses to it, on maternal, newborn and child health (MNCH) in Africa. A scoping review was conducted to provide an overview of the most significant impacts identified up to March 15, 2022. We searched MEDLINE, Embase, HealthSTAR, Web of Science, PubMed, and Scopus electronic databases. Peer reviewed literature that discussed maternal and child health in Africa during the COVID-19 pandemic, published from January 2020 to March 2022, and written in English was included. Papers that did not focus on the African region or an African country were excluded. A data-charting form was developed by the two reviewers to determine which themes to extract, and narrative descriptions were written about the extracted thematic areas.

The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic impacts maternal and perinatal health. Fear of COVID-19 transmission may lead to psychological disorders among mothers, such as anxiety and depression, which might affect the infant's health. Innovation is needed to address problems related to this condition. This study aimed to explore the experiences of mothers who had attended online infant massage classes.  This qualitative survey recruited 12 Indonesian mothers who had infants aged < 12 months and joined the online infant massage class. An open-ended question form was used to collect data, which were analyzed using thematic content analysis.

The COVID-19 pandemic has already had many consequences for social life. This paper focused on the early impact of COVID-19 pandemic on pandemic-period childbearing plan that was made before the onset of the pandemic. Data were collected by posting survey questionnaire on social networks in Bangladesh. A total of 384 Bangladeshi men and women of reproductive age were analyzed using descriptive and multivariate logistic regression analyses after adjusting the data by applying sampling weights. One out of every five respondents was found to cancel their pandemic-period pregnancy plan by considering potential crises related to COVID-19 pandemic.

COVID-19 pandemic has affected all age groups globally including pregnant women and their neonates. The aim of the study was to understand outcomes in neonates of mothers with COVID-19 during the first and second waves of COVID-19 pandemic. A retrospective analysis of 2524 neonates born to SARS-CoV-2-infected mothers was conducted during the first wave (n = 1782) and second wave (n = 742) of the COVID-19 pandemic at five study sites of the PregCovid registry in Maharashtra, India. A significant difference was noted in preterm birth, which was higher in the second wave (15.0%, 111/742) compared to the first wave (7.8%, 139/1782) (P < 0.001). The proportion of neonates requiring NICU admission was significantly higher in the second wave (19.0%, 141/742) as compared to that in the first wave (14.8%, 264/1782) (P < 0.05). On comparing regional differences, significantly higher neonatal complications were reported from Mumbai metropolitan region (P < 0.05). During the second wave of COVID-19, birth asphyxia and prematurity were 3.8- and 2.1-fold higher respectively (P < 0.001). Neonatal resuscitation at birth was significantly higher in second wave (3.4%, 25/742 vs 1.8%, 32/1782) (P < 0.05). The prevalence of SARS-CoV-2 infection in neonates was comparable (4.2% vs 4.6%) with no significant difference between the two waves.

During the pandemic, in terms of breastfeeding, most mothers experience anxiety and discomfort. The impact of this condition will decrease the production of breast milk. The purpose of this study was to determine the internal factors that affect the psychological capital of mothers when breastfeeding during the COVID-19 pandemic in Petiken Village, Gresik. This study was an analytical study with a cross-sectional approach. The population of this study was all breastfeeding mothers who had babies aged 6–12months. The sampling technique used was simple random sampling involving 102 respondents. The independent variables were motivation, perception, and attitude. The dependent variable was psychological capital. Data were collected from June to July 2021. The data analysis was conducted using the logistic regression test to determine the variable with a significance level of p<0.05

The COVID-19 pandemic and response have the potential to disrupt access and use of reproductive, maternal, and newborn health (RMNH) services. Numerous initiatives aim to gauge the indirect impact of COVID-19 on RMNH. This study assessed the impact of COVID-19 on RMNH coverage in the early stages of the pandemic using panel survey data from PMA-Ethiopia. Enrolled pregnant women were surveyed 6-weeks post-birth. It compared the odds of service receipt, coverage of RMNCH service indicators, and health outcomes within the cohort of women who gave birth prior to the pandemic and the COVID-19 affected cohort. We calculated impacts nationally and by urbanicity.

The COVID-19 pandemic had an impact on children’s and caregivers’ mental health. This study investigated psychopathological symptoms in a group of non-at-risk and a group of at-risk mothers and their school-age children from the pre-pandemic period to the lockdown period and to the post-lockdown period. It used the SCL-90/R to assess mothers’ psychological symptoms, the CBCL 1½–5, and the CBCL 6–18 for the perceived children’s emotional-behavioral functioning. Analysis of variance was conducted to assess significant differences in the groups over the three assessment points. Linear regressions were run to investigate the effect of maternal psychological symptoms on their children’s functioning.

There is ongoing research on the effects of COVID-19 on pregnancy and whether vertical viral transmission occurs. This study aimed to determine maternal opinions of COVID-19 testing for pregnant women and newborns in order to influence future clinical practice while advancing global knowledge of the impact of testing on patient experiences. This service evaluation assessed the opinions of 292 pregnant women who were tested for COVID-19 along with their newborn babies using nasopharyngeal swabs and the SARS-CoV-2 reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction test between 28 April and 21 May 2020.

COVID-19, caused by SARS-CoV-2, is a highly contagious respiratory tract infection. A major concern of SARS-CoV-2 infection in pregnant women is vertical maternal-fetal transmission and the ramifications on infant hearing. This retrospective study aims to investigate whether perinatal exposure to SARS-CoV-2 has an impact on the hearing of the offspring. The study population included neonates born to unvaccinated COVID-19 positive mothers in the University Hospital of Patras, Greece from March 2020 to January 2021. Polymerase chain reaction (PCR) tests were performed on the neonates on the first, second,^, and seventh day of life. All neonates underwent transient evoked otoacoustic emissions (TEOAEs) within the first three months of life and were all examined at the age of nine months.

This study was aimed to determine the relationship between emotional competence, family social support and parental stress in mothers of children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). This research was a quantitative research with correlational method. Purposive sampling technique by distributing questionnaires using Google form resulted in a total of 165 participants who are mothers of children with ASD, as members of therapy centers and schools for children with special needs in Semarang, Solo and Yogyakarta. The data were analyzed using structural equation model (SEM) technique on Lisrel program. This research resulted in two models showing that there are fit model with empirical data. The first model shows that each of emotional competence and family social support had a significant effect on parental stress in mothers of children with ASD. The second model shows the influence of emotional competence on the stress of parenting of children with ASD, with family social support as a moderating variable. The implications of this study are empirical evidence on the importance of family social support and emotional competence for mothers in raising children with ASD to prevent excessive parental stress.

The COVID-19 pandemic is an unexpected and major global event, with the potential to have many and varied impacts on child development. However, the implications of the pandemic for maternal depressive symptoms, early childhood temperament dimensions, and their associations, remain largely unknown. To investigate this, questionnaires were completed by mothers (N = 175) before and during the pandemic when their child was 10- and 16-months old (Study 1), and by an extended group of mothers with young children (6–48 months; 66 additional mothers) during the first and second national lockdowns in the United Kingdom in 2020 (Study 2).

The Covid-19 pandemic has exacerbated and drawn fresh attention to long-standing systemic weaknesses in health and economic systems. The virus – and the public health response – has wrought significant disruption on sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR) and maternal, neonatal and child health (MNCH) in Bangladesh. Known negative health outcomes include increased domestic and gender-based violence, child marriage, negative mental health, and adverse child health outcomes. This scoping paper for the Covid-19 Learning, Evidence and Research Programme for Bangladesh (CLEAR) aims to inform future research and policy engagement to support response, recovery, progress, and future health system resilience for SRHR and MNCH in Bangladesh, following the Covid-19 crisis. We present what is known on disruptions and impacts, as well as evidence gaps and priority areas for future research and engagement.