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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 48
Joint evaluation of the protection of rights of refugees during the COVID-19 pandemic
Institution: United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, Itad, ALNAP
Published: December 2021

The evaluation focuses on specific rights: the right to seek and enjoy asylum; the right to health; protection against sexual and gender-based violence (GBV); child protection and family reunification; the rights of persons with specific needs; and access to information. The Management Group for this evaluation includes the Evaluation Units of UNHCR, Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Finland, Governments of Colombia and Uganda, and the humanitarian system network ALNAP. The evaluation team is headed by Itad in partnership with VALID Evaluations and is a collaborative effort including a network of evaluators and academic institutions. This paper provides only a short, high-level summary of the emerging themes from the data collection period (August-October 2021). Some of the triangulation and analysis of data is still ongoing, and this paper outlines only emerging findings to date.

Education for non-citizen children in Malaysia during the COVID-19 pandemic: a qualitative study

AUTHOR(S)
Tharani Loganathan; Zhie X. Chan; Fikri Hassan (et al.)

Published: December 2021   Journal: Plos One
The COVID-19 pandemic disrupted schooling for children worldwide. Most vulnerable are non-citizen children without access to public education. This study aims to explore challenges faced in achieving education access for children of refugee and asylum-seekers, migrant workers, stateless and undocumented persons in Malaysia during the pandemic. In-depth interviews of 33 stakeholders were conducted from June 2020 to March 2021. Data were thematically analysed.
Unlocking learning: the implementation and effectiveness of digital learning for Syrian refugees in Lebanon

AUTHOR(S)
Thomas Dreesen; Akito Kamei; Despina Karamperidou (et al.)

Institution: *UNICEF
Published: November 2021

Digital learning has the potential to offer interactive and personalized learning for children, in and out of school, including the most marginalized. However, depending on programme design, delivery, and use, digital learning can also exacerbate learning inequalities. This report presents tangible findings on the implementation and use of digital learning to improve outcomes for marginalized children in Lebanon. This report focuses on the UNICEF-Akelius Foundation Partnership and its implementation of a digital course used on tablets and mobile phones for language learning of Syrian refugees in Lebanon. The report provides findings across three areas: First, the report investigates the digital course’s use in a blended learning environment where it was used on tablets by students as part of traditional face-to-face classroom instruction with teachers. Second, the analysis examines the transition to remote learning where the course was used on devices owned by the household, supported by teachers remotely. Third, the report estimates the effectiveness of the use of the digital course during this period of remote learning from August–November 2020 showing positive results for language and art competencies.

An analysis of admissions to a refugee child mental health unit in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic

AUTHOR(S)
Hatice Ünver; Neşe Perdahlı Fiş

Published: November 2021   Journal: Clinical Child Psychology and Psychiatry

This study aims to examine the admissions to a refugee child outpatient mental health unit in the COVID-19 pandemic and to compare them with the pre-pandemic period. This retrospective observational study, planned through the hospital information system and patient files, included the 1-year number of outpatient unit admissions, sociodemographic, and clinical data. Before the COVID-19 pandemic (March 2019–February 2020), a total of 2322 patients (local and refugee) applied to the same unit, and 236 (10.1%) of these patients were refugees. Since the commencement of the COVID-19 pandemic in Turkey (March 2020–February 2021), 1209 patients applied, and 10.4% (n = 126) of them were refugees. While 19.66 ± 6.31 refugees applied per month in the pre-pandemic period, this number decreased to 10.50 ± 5.31 during the pandemic period (p = 0.01). During the pandemic period, there was a significant decrease in the number of female refugee patient admissions. In addition, while admissions for external disorders increased significantly during the pandemic period (x2 = 13.99, p = 0.001), admissions for internal disorders decreased significantly (x2 = 4.54, p = 0.03).

Pilot wellness program with adapted social–emotional learning and COVID-19 curriculum for refugee youth

AUTHOR(S)
Julia Rosenberg; Patricia McDonough Ryan; Caroline O’Brien (et al.)

Published: October 2021   Journal: Health Education & Behavior
Refugee children are less likely than their non-refugee peers to receive timely diagnoses and treatment for mental and/or behavioral health problems, despite facing multiple risk factors including potential exposure to trauma during premigration, migration, and postmigration experiences. Social–Emotional Learning offers preventive mental health education for children through well-established, evidenced-based curricula. Although there are clear benefits of Social–Emotional Learning curricula, which can help children achieve long-term success emotionally and academically, Social–Emotional Learning curricula are not easily accessible for refugee children, often because of language and socioeconomic barriers. This pilot study evaluated the feasibility and acceptability of an adapted Social–Emotional Learning program that included culturally specific, multilingual, trauma-informed wellness, and physical education during the COVID-19 pandemic: EMPOWER (Emotions Program Outside the Clinic With Wellness Education for Refugees).
The exacerbation of a crisis: the impact of COVID-19 on people on the move at the French-Italian border

AUTHOR(S)
Diletta Mastria; Jean Daniel Patierno

Published: September 2021

As the COVID-19 pandemic took hold in Europe, the situation for displaced people in the Italian border town of Ventimiglia deteriorated further. Vulnerable individuals and groups would face additional dangers and protection risks in this context, while unaccompanied children continued to be pushed back at alarming rates while being treated as adults, a tactical practice aimed at depriving them of their right to seek asylum in France. This report is based on a combination of desk and field research, and sheds a light on the grave impacts of COVID-19 on an already desperate situation at the French-Italian border. It underlines the acute impact of the pandemic on all aspects of life for people on the move, including access to adequate shelter, medical care, protection, and other rights violations such as racial profiling, pushbacks and detention.

Enhancing teaching recovery techniques (TRT) with parenting skills: RCT of TRT + parenting with trauma-affected Syrian refugees in Lebanon utilising remote training with implications for insecure contexts and COVID-19

AUTHOR(S)
Aala El-Khani; Kim Cartwright; Wadih Maalouf (et al.)

Published: August 2021   Journal: International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health
Child psychosocial recovery interventions in humanitarian contexts often overlook the significant effect that caregivers can have on improving children’s future trajectory. This study enhanced the well-established, evidenced-based child trauma recovery programme Teaching Recovery Techniques (TRT) intervention with parenting sessions, i.e., TRT + Parenting (TRT + P), which aims to improve parent mental health and their ability to support their children’s mental health. It also described the findings of a three-arm randomised controlled trial comparing enhanced TRT + P vs. TRT and waitlist.
Reflections of methodological and ethical challenges in conducting research during COVID-19 involving resettled refugee youth in Canada

AUTHOR(S)
Zoha Salam; Elysee Nouvet; Lisa Schwartz

Published: July 2021   Journal: Journal of Medical Ethics
Research involving migrant youth involves navigating and negotiating complex challenges in order to uphold their rights and dignity, but also all while maintaining scientific rigour. COVID-19 has changed the global landscape within many domains and has increasingly highlighted inequities that exist. With restrictions focusing on maintaining physical distancing set in place to curb the spread of the virus, conducting in-person research becomes complicated. This article reflects on the ethical and methodological challenges encountered when conducting qualitative research during the pandemic with Syrian migrant youth who are resettled in Canada. The three areas discussed from the study are recruitment, informed consent and managing the interviews. Special attention to culture as being part of the study’s methodology as an active reflexive process is also highlighted. The goal of this article is to contribute to the growing understanding of complexities of conducting research during COVID-19 with populations which have layered vulnerabilities, such as migrant youth. This article hopes that the reflections may help future researchers in conducting their research during this pandemic by being cognizant of both the ethical and methodological challenges discussed.
Talent on the move: listening to children and young people on the move to unlock their potential

AUTHOR(S)
Verena Knaus; Danzhen You

Institution: *UNICEF, Netherlands Ministry of Foreign Affairs
Published: July 2021

There are an estimated 281 million international migrants. One in five is a young person and 36 million are children. Worldwide, more than 4 out of 10 forcibly displaced persons are younger than 18, with 33 million children living in forced displacement at the end of 2019 – either as internally displaced persons within their country or abroad as refugees or asylum seekers. Young migrants, refugees and internally displaced persons (IDPs) across continents represent a unique, untapped pool of talent, ideas, and entrepreneurship. Often resilient, motivated and with experience in overcoming adversity, they have the potential to help solve some of our greatest challenges. Powered by the voices of youth, this report harnesses the technology of U-Report to ask 8,764 young people on the move, aged between 14 and 24, if they felt heard and invited them to share their aspirations to learn and earn. According to this poll, nearly 40 per cent of young people on the move identify education and training as their biggest priorities, and 30 per cent prioritized looking for a job. As the examples in this report highlight, young people on the move are a force for success. But only by creating incentives and opportunities for them to fulfil their aspirations can we turn their passions, energy and hopes into something productive and empowering.

Unaccompanied children at the gates of Europe: voices from Samos

AUTHOR(S)
Emma Musty

Institution: Save the Children, Refugee Rights Europe
Published: June 2021

This report investigates the situation facing unaccompanied minors during Covid-19 in Samos. Drawing from desk research, interviews with unaccompanied minors and staff working with them, the report findings underline the further deterioration of an already acute and protracted situation. The children are trapped in dismal reception conditions without appropriate and adequate services. The access to medical care and psychological rehabilitation is grossly insufficient and unaccompanied children face acute safety risks due to being treated as adults, in clear contravention of the Convention on the Rights of the Child. In consequence, these conditions and the lack of protection has bred a mental health crisis on the island.

Refugees and migrants in times of COVID-19: mapping trends of public health and migration policies and practices
Institution: World Health Organisation
Published: June 2021
Refugees and migrants have been disproportionately affected by both the direct effects of the COVID-19 pandemic and the restrictive migration measures put in place, which, in turn, have hampered coordinated and consistent public health responses. This report maps how the needs of refugee and migrant have been addressed in COVID-19 responses across countries and how these have varied considerably from inclusive policies to discriminatory practices. Many countries ensured access to health care for refugees and migrants regardless of migration status, and several countries also suspended forced returns and prioritized alternatives to immigration detention. An integrated approach to migration and public health policies covering protection-sensitive access to territories, a flexible approach to migration status and non-discriminatory access to health care is suggested as a policy consideration to uphold international conventions protecting the right to health without discrimination for refugees and migrants.
High risk, low priority: refugees excluded from COVID-19 vaccine rollout

AUTHOR(S)
Delphine Vallette; Nina Nepesova; Natalia Korobkova (et al.)

Institution: World Vision
Published: June 2021
The COVID-19 crisis has affected everyone, but people living on the world’s margins, including the forcibly displaced who face some of the highest risks but remain the lowest priority in national and global responses to the pandemic. Yet, vaccine justice is not only essential to protect the most at risk but it is also critical to prevent even more catastrophic impact globally. The pandemic will not end anywhere until it ends everywhere
Ghosts in the nursery in exile: supporting parenting in exile during the COVID-19 pandemic

AUTHOR(S)
Lena Schestag; Janina Mehner-Gentner; Lea Stein (et al.)

Published: May 2021   Journal: International Journal of Applied Psychoanalytic Studies
The early prevention project “Strong together!” supports refugee parents and their young children (0–4 years) in Berlin, Germany. It aims to mitigate the transmission of trauma to the generation born in exile. For refugee families who have only recently arrived in Germany, the COVID-19 pandemic poses a particularly great challenge. Not only are they confronted with numerous challenges in respect to re-building their lives in Germany after fleeing war and persecution, but are also vulnerable to conscious and unconscious anxieties, fantasies, and conflicts evoked by the pandemic and the threat it poses to their lives. This was observed in the context of the mother–child groups of “Strong together!”. Many expressed great insecurity, heightened levels of anxiety, re-experiencing of traumatic scenes, and over-strictly self-isolating themselves and their children, even attraction to fundamentalist ideologies. In this paper, some of the empirical and clinical findings of “Strong together!” are summarized and reflected on within a framework of psychoanalytic trauma theory.
The refugee crisis and peer relationships during childhood and adolescence

AUTHOR(S)
David Schwartz; Yana Ryjova; Annemarie R. Kelleghan (et al.)

Published: March 2021   Journal: Journal of Applied Developmental Psychology
This paper is a call for empirical research, and theory development, that focuses on the peer relationships of children and adolescents who experience forced displacement. During the last decade, an escalating humanitarian crisis has developed with historic levels of involuntary migration occurring across the world. The extant research on youth who become refugees or internally displaced has primarily targeted issues related to mental health and basic survival needs. Less attention has been devoted to normative developmental processes including peer relationships. Nonetheless, peers can play a critical role in facilitating the adjustment of displaced children and adolescents. Friends can help these vulnerable youth through the transitions associated with resettlement. From a less adaptive perspective, interactions in the peer group will potentially contribute to intensification of risk and can accelerate trajectories toward negative outcomes.
Lifting Barriers to Education During and After COVID-19: Improving education outcomes for migrant and refugee children in Latin America and the Caribbean

AUTHOR(S)
Kim Caarls; Victor Cebotari; Despina Karamperidou; Maria Carolina Alban Conto; Juliana Zapata; Rachel Yang Zhou

By the end of 2019, 4.8 million refugees and migrants had left Venezuela – making it the largest external displacement crisis in the region’s recent history. Of these, 1 in 4 was a child.

Across Latin America and the Caribbean, since November 2020, 137 million girls and boys are missing out on their education due to the prolonged closure of schools during COVID-19. The implications are troubling, especially for migrant and refugee children, for whom access to inclusive and equitable education remains a major challenge.

This study collates evidence from Latin America, the Caribbean and across the world to gain a better understanding of the multifaceted linkages between education and migration. It estimates gaps in educational outcomes; identifies structural barriers to education; and highlights promising practices to inform policy.

16 - 30 of 48

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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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.