Logo UNICEF Innocenti
Office of Research-Innocenti
menu icon

Children and COVID-19 Research Library

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

RESULTS:   50     SORT BY:

ADVANCED SEARCH:

Select one or more filter options and click search below.

PUBLICATION DATE:
UNICEF Innocenti Publication
UNICEF Publication
Open Access
JOURNAL ACCESS FOR UNICEF STAFF CONTACT US
31 - 45 of 50
Primary-school aged children’s understanding and experiences of loneliness: a qualitative enquiry

AUTHOR(S)
Aimée Robyn Cole; Caroline Bond; Pamela Qualter

Published: October 2021   Journal: Pastoral Care in Education
Loneliness in childhood and adolescence is currently measured using questionnaires and checklists. The most used questionnaires for youth are psychometrically limited, partly due to the absence of the young person’s voice from the measurement development process. Given this gap in the literature, the current study explored primary-school aged children’s understanding and experiences of loneliness, providing new information about the experience of loneliness in childhood to better inform conceptualisation and measurement of loneliness in children. Interviews took place during the COVID pandemic and were conducted with six Year 4 and 5 children (aged 8–10 years) and analysed using hybrid thematic analysis. Findings fit with existing conceptualisations of social and emotional loneliness and provide novel perspectives on solutions, the importance of play, and children’s perceptions of the adult experience. Directions for future research, and the impact after COVID are discussed.
Experiences with opt-in, at-home screening for SARS-CoV-2 at a primary school in Germany: an implementation study

AUTHOR(S)
Jonas Wachinger; Maximilian Schirmer; Nicole Täuber (et al.)

Published: October 2021   Journal: BMJ Paediatrics Open
 Over the course of the pandemic, many countries have repeatedly closed schools and shifted schoolchildren to remote learning. However, evidence for negative mental and physiological health consequences of such measures for schoolchildren is increasing, highlighting the need for evidence-based recommendations on how to safely reopen schools. This study aims to assess implementation experiences, acceptability and feasibility of opt-in, at-home SARS-CoV-2 screening using rapid diagnostic tests (RDTs) to facilitate safe face-to-face teaching during a pandemic.
Perceived changes in lifestyle behaviours and in mental health and wellbeing of elementary school children during the first COVID-19 lockdown in Canada: lifestyles and mental health and wellbeing of children during the lockdown

AUTHOR(S)
Katerina Maximova; Mohammad KA. Khan; Julia Dabravolskaj (et al.)

Published: October 2021   Journal: Public Health
The closure of schools to prevent the spread of COVID-19 prompted concerns of deteriorating lifestyle behaviours, mental health and wellbeing of children, particularly those in socioeconomically disadvantaged settings. This study assessed changes in lifestyle behaviours (physical activity, screen time, eating habits and bed/wake-up times), mental health and wellbeing during the first lockdown in Spring 2020 as perceived by school children from disadvantaged settings, and examined determinants of these changes.
An investigation of anxiety and depression among Chinese primary school students after the resumption of school post-COVID-19

AUTHOR(S)
Yiqing He; Yuanrong Li

Published: October 2021   Journal: Vulnerable Children and Youth Studies
This study used the Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD-7) and 9 Patients Health Questionnaire (PHQ-9) to investigate the anxiety and depression of 1366 primary school students in Shenzhen after the resumption of school. Following the COVID-19 pandemic, many parents began wondering whether months of isolation, a lack of organized school education, and potential loss of relatives would have a long-term impact on their children’s mental health. The results of this study indicate that the rates of anxiety and depression among primary school students are indeed higher than before COVID-19, including the detection rate of anxiety and depression comorbidity, which has reached 11.7%.
Likelihood of COVID-19 vaccination among primary school students in Hong Kong

AUTHOR(S)
Kin On Kwok; Kin-Kit Li; Wan In Wei (et al.)

Published: October 2021   Journal: Clinical Microbiology and Infection

Although coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) may pose a lower risk of transmission to children than to adults, and schools have contributed little to infection among parents, many countries nevertheless implemented school closure. Following the emergence of the δ variant, which is more transmissible and globally dominant, the percentage of primary school-aged children testing positive has been increasing. Progressively, the circumstances have become more favourable to recommend vaccination of children because of the increased burden on children resulting from the new variants and the supporting evidence from the ongoing vaccine trials among school-aged children. The rollout of COVID-19 vaccines for children is an important step in reopening schools safely. Understanding parental intention to vaccinate their children against COVID-19 will help inform broad strategies to maximize immunization rates among children. This study was conducted in Hong Kong, a densely populated travel hub in southeast China where residents average 12.5 daily contacts

“Education cannot cease”: the experiences of parents of primary age children (age 4-11) in Northern Ireland during school closures due to COVID-19

AUTHOR(S)
Jessica Bates; Jayne Finlay; Una O’Connor Bones

Published: September 2021   Journal: Educational Review
This paper reports the research findings from an online survey of parents of primary-age pupils in Northern Ireland during the COVID-19 pandemic. The aims of the study were to explore how parents supported their child/ren’s home learning; to ascertain the communication, guidance and resources between home and school; and to learn from the experiences of parents to enable more effective practices to be established should similar circumstances arise in the future. The survey yielded 2,509 responses and highlighted the divergence of practices in relation to home-school communications across schools as well as the challenges experienced by parents, particularly those who had one or more children with special educational needs and/or those who had Free School Meal Entitlement.
Assessment of a program for SARS-CoV-2 screening and environmental monitoring in an urban public school district

AUTHOR(S)
John Crowe; Andy T. Schnaubelt; Scott SchmidtBonne (et al.)

Published: September 2021   Journal: JAMA Netw Open

Scalable programs for school-based SARS-CoV-2 testing and surveillance are needed to guide in-person learning practices and inform risk assessments in kindergarten through 12th grade settings. To characterize SARS-CoV-2 infections in staff and students in an urban public school setting and evaluate test-based strategies to support ongoing risk assessment and mitigation for kindergarten through 12th grade in-person learning. This pilot quality improvement program engaged 3 schools in Omaha, Nebraska, for weekly saliva polymerase chain reaction testing of staff and students participating in in-person learning over a 5-week period from November 9 to December 11, 2020. Wastewater, air, and surface samples were collected weekly and tested for SARS-CoV-2 RNA to evaluate surrogacy for case detection and interrogate transmission risk of in-building activities.

Goal content and attitudes toward physical activity among primary school students during COVID-19 conditional movement control order

AUTHOR(S)
Siong Chin Ngien; John Jeswenny Fresshila

Published: September 2021   Journal: Asian Journal of Sport and Exercise Psychology
This study examined primary school students’ goal content and attitudes toward physical activity during COVID-19 Conditional Movement Control Order . The participants were 312 students comprising 149 males and 163 females aged 11 and 12 years old from 3 primary schools in Sarawak, Malaysia. Participants were administered the Malay version of the Goal Content for Exercise Questionnaire Malay version (GCEQ; Chai et al., 2019) and Malay version of the Attitudes toward Physical Activity Scale (M-APAS; Jeswenny, 2019).
Association of elementary school reopening status and county COVID-19 incidence

AUTHOR(S)
Kenneth Michelson; Margaret E. Samuels-Kalow

Published: September 2021   Journal: Academic Pediatrics

This study aims to examine the association between elementary school opening status (ESOS) and changes in pediatric COVID-19 incidence. It conducted a cross-sectional study of US counties with school districts with ≥500 elementary school students. The main exposure was ESOS in September, 2020. The outcome was county incidence of COVID-19. Age-stratified negative binomial regression models were constructed using county adult COVID-19 incidence.

Disinfectant use by K-12 school staff to combat SARS-CoV-2

AUTHOR(S)
Timothy J. Hilbert; Candace Brancato; Kelsey Carter (et al.)

Published: August 2021   Journal: American Journal of Infection Control
K-12 school staff from Indiana, Kentucky, and Ohio were asked about their use of disinfectants to mitigate the spread of COVID-19 in schools. Survey participants (n=1,555) reported frequent use of disinfectants, often using unknown products, and were provided little to no training on safe and effective use. Participant concerns included student involvement in disinfection, inadequate ventilation, surface contact time, and potential health effects.
Reopening with Resilience: Lessons from remote learning during COVID19

The COVID-19 pandemic led to school closures around the world, affecting almost 1.6 billion students. The effects of even short disruptions in a child’s schooling on their learning and well-being have been shown to be acute and long lasting. The capacities of education systems to respond to the crisis by delivering remote learning and support to children and families have been diverse yet uneven.

This report reviews the emerging evidence on remote learning throughout the global school closures during the COVID-19 pandemic to help guide decision-makers to build more effective, sustainable, and resilient education systems for current and future crises.

Caregiver’s reports of their children’s psychological symptoms after the start of the COVID-19 pandemic and caregiver’s perceived stress in Turkey

AUTHOR(S)
Ahmet Büber; Merve Aktaş Terzioğlu

Published: July 2021   Journal: Nordic Journal of Psychiatry

There is limited information about Turkish children’s mental health during the COVID-19 outbreak. Here, in a Turkish community sample, we investigate the psychological symptoms in primary school children after the start of the COVID-19 outbreak according to caregivers and the caregivers’ perceived stress levels. The sample was randomly selected from the primary schools in Denizli, Turkey. Denizli is a large city and the total population is around one-million. The study was conducted online. The caregivers responded to a sociodemographic and daily life during pandemic questionnaire and psychological symptoms screening form (which evaluated whether the children had any newly developed symptoms after the start of the COVID-19 outbreak) and the Perceived Stress Scale (PSS). One-thousand-seven-hundred-ninety-seven people were included in the study. Data was collected between 3 July and 31 August 2020.

Effect of temporary school closure due to COVID-19 on musculoskeletal function in elementary school children

AUTHOR(S)
Ryoichi Nakajima; Hiroshi Kamada; Taishu Kasai (et al.)

Published: July 2021   Journal: Journal of Rural Medicine
In 2020, coronavirus disease-2019 (COVID-19) became the cause of a pandemic. In response, the Japan Sports Agency issued warnings about secondary damage to health, such as the threat to physical and mental well-being due to the lack of exercise in this situation. This study reports on cross-sectional and longitudinal examinations of standing trunk flexion to evaluate how temporary long-term school closures affected musculoskeletal function in elementary school students.
I didn't know I have the capacity to be creative: children's experiences of how creativity promoted their sense of well-being: a pilot randomised controlled study in school arts therapies

AUTHOR(S)
Z. Moula

Published: July 2021   Journal: Public Health

Creativity has been found to be one of the key therapeutic elements in arts therapies. Arts therapies are psychotherapeutic approaches that aim to facilitate psychological change and personal growth through arts media, such as music, drama, dance, movement and virtual arts. This article presents the findings from children's experiences of participating in arts therapies, particularly those related to creativity. This study followed a pilot randomised controlled design with embedded qualitative and arts-based methods. Sixty-two children with mild emotional and behavioural difficulties were recruited across four primary schools in North West England.

It’s Not Too Late to Act on Early Learning: Understanding and recovering from the impact of pre-primary education closures during COVID-19

AUTHOR(S)
Dita Nugroho; Youngkwang Jeon; Akito Kamei; Florencia Lopez Boo

This paper presents a new estimate that pre-primary school closures in 2020 may cost today’s young children US$1.6 trillion in lost earnings over their lifetimes. Children in middle-income countries will be most greatly affected. However, most low- and middle- income countries are leaving pre-primary education out of their responses to COVID-19. This paper also draws lessons from evaluations of accelerated, bridging and remedial programmes on how introducing or expanding these transition programmes in the early years can mitigate the long-term impact on learning from pre-primary school closures.

31 - 45 of 50

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.

LEARN MORE ABOUT THE DATABASE

Subscribe to updates on new research about COVID-19 & children

SIGN UP TO OUR NEWSLETTER

Share:

facebook twitter linkedin google+ reddit print email
Article Article

Check our quarterly thematic digests on children and COVID-19

Each quarterly thematic digest features the latest evidence drawn from the Children and COVID-19 Research Library on a particular topic of interest.
Campaign Campaign

COVID-19 & Children: Rapid Research Response

UNICEF Innocenti is mobilizing a rapid research response in line with UNICEF’s global response to the COVID-19 crisis. The initiatives we’ve begun will provide the broad range of evidence needed to inform our work to scale up rapid assessment, develop urgent mitigating strategies in programming and advocacy, and preparation of interventions to respond to the medium and longer-term consequences of the COVID-19 crisis. The research projects cover a rapid review of evidence, education analysis, and social and economic policies.