HEALTH AND PSYCHOLOGICAL PROBLEMS FACED BY CHILDREN DUE TO THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC – SYSTEMATIC REVIEW
Abstract
Background: End-of-life care refers to all aspects of the care relating to dying, and bereavement which are provided Background: The year 2019 was marked by the emergence of Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19). The disease started in China and began to spread through movement and travel between countries in which it spread widely. This virus reached many countries and paralyzed public life for almost half of the world's population, where they were forced to Staying in their homes for long periods due to the imposed quarantine People who have been forced to stay at home to limit the spread of the virus. There have been many studies that have sought to analyze the impact of this epidemic from different perspectives; However, this study will pay attention to how it affects and how it may affect the psychology of children aged 6-12 years in the future after schools are closed for several months.Material and methods: This review aimed to review the literature on psychological state problems faced by children during the COVID-19 pandemic. The literature was searched within the following databases: PubMed, Google Scholar, Academia, and every one sorts of articles published within the last six months (March 2021 – September 2021) which were relevant to the topic matter of the audit. a complete of twenty-two articles it had been selected through the initial screening and 5 articles were included within the final review.
Results: A review of all five articles showed that the current research focuses on assessing several aspects of mentality Affecting children's mental health due to COVID-19. Many social and demographic variables such as gender, number of family members, duration of quarantine, and psychological variables such as poor social support, and not playing with other children With increasing stress, anxiety, symptoms of depression and insomnia, there is growing evidence to suggest this That COVID-19 can be an independent risk factor for psychological stress in children and can have a long-term impact on them psychologically as well as in terms of educational level and social relations with others in the future.
SYSTEMATIC REVIEW
HEALTH AND PSYCHOLOGICAL PROBLEMS FACED BY CHILDREN DUE TO THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC – SYSTEMATIC REVIEW
Hana A. jameel alsaeed 1, Rayan Ibrahim Khalil 2 *
- Department of paediatric nursing, College of Nursing, University of Mosul, City of Mosul, Iraq;
- Department of paediatric nursing, College of Nursing, University of Mosul, City of Mosul, Iraq.
Corresponding author: Hana A. jameel alsaeed
Email: hanaalsaeed@uomosul.edu.iq
ORCID
ABSTRACT
Background: End-of-life care refers to all aspects of the care relating to dying, and bereavement which are provided Background: The year 2019 was marked by the emergence of Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19). The disease started in China and began to spread through movement and travel between countries in which it spread widely. This virus reached many countries and paralyzed public life for almost half of the world's population, where they were forced to Staying in their homes for long periods due to the imposed quarantine People who have been forced to stay at home to limit the spread of the virus. There have been many studies that have sought to analyze the impact of this epidemic from different perspectives; However, this study will pay attention to how it affects and how it may affect the psychology of children aged 6-12 years in the future after schools are closed for several months.
Material and methods: This review aimed to review the literature on psychological state problems faced by children during the COVID-19 pandemic. The literature was searched within the following databases: PubMed, Google Scholar, Academia, and every one sorts of articles published within the last six months (March 2021 – September 2021) which were relevant to the topic matter of the audit. a complete of twenty-two articles it had been selected through the initial screening and 5 articles were included within the final review.
Results: A review of all five articles showed that the current research focuses on assessing several aspects of mentality Affecting children's mental health due to COVID-19. Many social and demographic variables such as gender, number of family members, duration of quarantine, and psychological variables such as poor social support, and not playing with other children With increasing stress, anxiety, symptoms of depression and insomnia, there is growing evidence to suggest this That COVID-19 can be an independent risk factor for psychological stress in children and can have a long-term impact on them psychologically as well as in terms of educational level and social relations with others in the future.
Keywords: COVID-19, psychological Problems, pandemic.
Received - 05-06-2021, Reviewed - 08/07/2021, Revised/ Accepted- 03/08/2021
INTRODUCTION
Since the new Corona virus began to appear and spread in 2019, and according to the multiple studies conducted in this regard, children are less likely to be infected with the virus, but they are more affected psychologically, due to the changes that occurred in public life and the activities that they were practicing before the complete closure that I started applying all countries (wang,et.al,2020).
The impact of the Corona virus on the entire world and all segments of society. In addition to its impact on the lives of individuals and the low standard of living Contribute to the spread of emotional distress and increase the risks of psychological disorders in the family in general and children in particular. The burden on parents has also increased in terms of closing schools and nurseries, and it fell on the parents to care for and educate children at the same time, which caused them psychological burdens (Xiang,et.al,2020).
In all communicable and infectious diseases, there are groups that are more affected than others according to their social and psychological characteristics, and because children and adolescents are in the process of growth and development, they deserve to be well taken care of to maintain their physical activity and their mental and psychological health. He witnessed the history of this epidemic unparalleled changes in the history of the modern world. Among them, education has moved to be electronic through distance learning systems and sometimes through platforms and television, and this is a fundamental change in the lives of children (de Miranda,et.al,2020).
The researchers predicted, through their studies, that PTSD, anxiety, and depression are to be expected during and after the injury. Some groups, such as children, are more susceptible to long-term psychological consequences We performed a comprehensive, non-systematic search in four databases (PubMed, Scopus, Google) to answer the question: What are the mental health effects of children and adolescents on pandemic? Moreover, what are the essential features of mental health in a pandemic situation? Results: twenty-two Articles were selected for full-text reading, Children respond to stress differently (C. Wang&others,2020).
METHOD
Objectives
This review aims to provide an overview of research findings into the mental health problems faced by children in the community due to COVID-19. Goals, the current review was to determine the relationship between sociodemographic, and the sex of the child Psychological and mental changes in their mental health associated with COVID-19. The health problems faced by children and their reflection on their academic achievement and their relationship with others
Literature search
The literature search was performed in the following databases: PubMed, Google Scholar's website, Academia website, and a review of research published in international collections. Search terms used in the articles retrieved were: mental health, problems, the impact of COVID-19, or Novel Coronavirus and quarantine, all kinds of articles published in the last 6 months (March 2021 - September 2021) such as Reviews, commentary, correspondence, discussions as well as recommendations made by each reviewed research, findings, original research article, the search was relevant to the topic of the review. Where applicable reports have also been extracted using cross-references.
Articles selection
The articles were selectively selected from among all articles that were relevant to the subject of the review, only original research articles and articles about children and what they suffer during the period of the spread of Corona and the complete closure of a total of 22 scientific research published in reliable international publishing houses such as Elsevier Articles were selected by preliminary screening. Five articles relevant to the topic of the review were selected out of 22 and 3 of these five were original Research articles, 2 editorials, 5 review articles, 4 letters to the editor, 2It was ideas / 4 points of view. The final number of 22 articles listed was 5, one article fromItaly and another from Brazil and research from the Philippines and two of them from research conducted in China.
RESULTS
-Socio-demographic characteristics
Among the studies included in the review, mean age The ages of the children ranged from 6-14 years, as this group is the main participants in this review in 4 studies it was female (68.7% - 85.5%) Xiang, Y. et al. High levels of stress in this age group it was associated with higher levels of anxiety, depression, and distress (de Miranda,2020). The study by Spoorthy et al. (2020) Try to see the relationship between age and psychological problems facing children. Although younger people (less than 10 years old) have higher self-assessment scores for depression than older adults or in their teens up to 17 years of age.
Yeasmin et.al (2020). State Younger children were psychologically affected and suffered from fear of infection for themselves and their families more than other age groups, due to their limited knowledge about the virus and the method of infection and prevention, as they showed a clear indicator of fear and panic about their safety from this epidemic.
Some studies have also indicated that children whose parents work in the medical field are more anxious and insecure due to the absence of one of the parents for long periods and because of the increase in working hours in health institutions, and it was considered one of the factors that cause stress for all parents, including children as well.
-Psychological impact
Tee,M.(2020).state School closures affect the behavior of children and adolescents in different ways. Several articles have expressed concerns about healthy nutrition and lack of physical activity for children and adolescents. School activities are also responsible for providing energy to the daily lives of children and adolescents, and their sudden interruption has had a traumatic effect on them especially children with ADHD.
Expectations about the pandemic may impact children’s and adolescents’ mental health in several ways. Pessimistic perspectives towards the pandemic, fear of being infected or having a relative infected, for instance, might result in behavioral changes
-Stress related COVID19
The majority of studies were conducted during previous epidemics and from the beginning of the outbreak of COVID-19 examining the psychological consequences of the pandemic in the general population Parents and children one study also found that levels of post-traumatic stress were four times higher in younger children they were isolated from those who were not isolated. Subsequent studies conducted discovered psychological difficulties in children during the COVID-19 pandemic, with fear, clinging, inattention and irritability as the most serious symptoms for younger children (Spinelli,et.al,2020).
-Children psychological needs and care
"Recent literature on basic psychological needs has revealed an important distinction between satisfaction and frustrations of needs and designated them as separate concepts (. For instance, one can feel low relatedness due to pandemic-induced quarantine, which diminishes satisfaction with life, but if one feels abandoned by other people, he may feel the thwarting of his relatedness followed by distress and other psychological issues". Thus, frustration of the needs is experienced when social surroundings or events thwart the basic psychological needs of a person )Šakan, & Žuljević,2020 (.As Vansteenkiste and Ryan pointed out, low need satisfaction does not necessarily imply the frustration of the needs, but, however, need frustration always involves low need satisfaction. In order to attain personal growth satisfaction of the needs is essential, while their frustration is essential to maladaptation and ill-being ( jiao W,et.al,2020). It can be difficult to maintain the basic psychological needs of families during the period of predominant quarantine due to preventive measures that force us to social distancing and complete quarantine, which seems to play a very important role in the daily routines of children of this age group (Patrick,et.al,2020) People have to stay at home and not leave many options for them to do on their own, which leads to low satisfaction with themselves, which leads to disorders and future psychological problems and feelings of frustration and loss of hope that life will return to normal again (Dursun, O.,2021).
Table 1. The study Summaries included in the review
|
Authors |
Sample/n |
Study design |
Instrument use |
The main finding |
|
1.Maria,et.al(2020) |
797 mother /Italy |
Cross-sectional study |
SDQ strength difficulties questionnaire and PSI: Parenting Stress Index Short form |
Parents who reported more difficulties in dealing with quarantine show more stress. |
|
2.Debora,et.al(2020) |
51children/Brazil |
Comprehensive study |
Online survey by using (ptss) post-traumatic stress disorder scale. |
The study found high percentage on the frequency of anxiety and depression symptoms in children and adolescents. |
|
3.Michael et.al(2020) |
1879 adolescences / Luzon Islands of the Philippines |
Descriptive study |
Survey by used Anxiety and Stress Scales (DASS-21) and the Impact of Events Scale-Revised (IES-R) ratings. |
The IES-R mean score was 19.57 (SD=13.12) while the DASS-21 mean score was 25.94 (SD=20.59). In total, 16.3% of respondents rated the psychological impact of the outbreak as moderate to-severe; 16.9% reported moderate-to-severe depressive symptoms; 28.8% had moderate-to-severe anxiety levels; and 13.4% had moderate-to-severe stress levels |
|
4.yasmin et.al (2020) |
384 parents /in Bangladesh |
Cross-sectional study |
By using mental health score and confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) |
OVID-19 pandemic [Table 1]. The depression, anxiety, and sleeping disorder scores of children were classified into 4 groups (sub-threshold, mild, moderate, and severe disturbance),there was Significant differences found in the depression, anxiety, and sleeping disorder scores of the child among the four groups |
|
5.Ricardo&Gabriela (2020) |
1003, Parents |
Descriptive study |
questionnaire based |
73% of all samples need for doctor consultation ,61.5% occur change in the dietary pattern ,most of them mentioned increase in food intake during pandemic leading to dental problems ,66%of children need for urgent dental care, their parents fear from impacts of covid19 on the behavior of children |
DISCUSSION
Reviewed literature also states that children from specific groups or exposed to some risk factors are more vulnerable to developing mental health disorders during the pandemic. Fragile groups identified were children with preexisting health conditions and in vulnerable socioeconomic contexts. Risk factors were exposure to domestic violence or
child maltreatment and infection by COVID-19
Previous research has shown that epidemics can lead to serious conditions and cause different psychological effects on people in general, and children in particular, because they do not know how to present themselves it can lead to the emergence of new psychiatric symptoms, and exacerbation pre-existing diseases. Regardless of exposure or injury children can develop fear of illness or death, excessive worry/anxiety, impotence and tendency to blame parents, which causes stress in children and parents (Gai,H,et.al,2020).
Studies conducted at the time of the SARS virus also showed children are more likely to be injured after trauma stress disorder (PTSD). Compared to adults in addition to anxiety and stress disorder (Li, Q. ,et.al,2020).
Possible symptoms of shock as expected in the aftermath of any disaster and infectious diseases such as what happened in the case of the SARS epidemic as shown in (Table No. 1)
A study in China showed that children who were not injured and who were subjected to quarantine and whose parents were injured, had the ability to communicate with them via mobile devices. The spread of the pandemic at its height in the Republic of China at that time (J.J,et.al,2020).
In this review, we diagnosed mental health problems caused by Pandemic and social distancing. As expected, the responses to stress were different and had different degrees and stages, especially in younger children who were not properly educated about the disease by parents or the community. of all stages of development have high rates of depression, anxiety.
ETHICAL CONSIDERATIONS COMPLIANCE WITH ETHICAL GUIDELINES
An administrative agreement was obtained from head of the clinical nursing department, and approved by the College of Nursing, University of Mosul, Iraq.
FUNDING
This research did not receive any grant from funding agencies in the public, commercial, or non-profit sectors.
AUTHOR’S CONTRIBUTIONS
Study concept; Writing the original draft; Data collection; Data analysis and Reviewing the final edition by the authors.
DISCLOSURE STATEMENT: The authors report no conflict of interest.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
We thank the anonymous referees for their useful suggestions.
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Spinelli, M., Lionetti, F., Pastore, M., & Fasolo, M. (2020). Parents' stress and children's psychological problems in families facing the COVID-19 outbreak in Italy. Frontiers in psychology, 11, 1713.
Spoorthy, M. S., Pratapa, S. K., & Mahant, S. (2020). Mental health problems faced by healthcare workers due to the COVID-19 pandemic–A review. Asian journal of psychiatry, 51, 102119.
Tee, M. L., Tee, C. A., Anlacan, J. P., Aligam, K. J. G., Reyes, P. W. C., Kuruchittham, V., & Ho, R. C. (2020). Psychological impact of COVID-19 pandemic in the Philippines. Journal of affective disorders, 277, 379-391.
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Yeasmin, S., Banik, R., Hossain, S., Hossain, M. N., Mahumud, R., Salma, N., & Hossain, M. M. (2020). Impact of COVID-19 pandemic on the mental health of children in Bangladesh: A cross-sectional study. Children and youth services review, 117, 105277.
C. Wang, R. Pan, X. Wan, Y. Tan, L. Xu, R.S. McIntyre, F.N. Choo, B. Tran, R. Ho, V. K. Sharma, C. Ho, A Longitudinal Study on the Mental Health of General Population during the COVID-19 Epidemic in China, Brain, Behavior, and Immunity, 2020, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bbi.2020.04.028, 0–1.
Cai, H., Tu, B., Ma, J., Chen, L., Fu, L., Jiang, Y., Zhuang, Q., 2020. Psychological impact and coping strategies of frontline medical staff in Hunan between January and March 2020 during the outbreak of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID19) in Hubei, China.Med. Sci. Monit. 26, e924171.
Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19) Epidemic among the General Population in China. de Miranda, D. M., da Silva Athanasio, B., de Sena Oliveira, A. C., & Silva, A. C. S. (2020). How is COVID-19 pandemic impacting mental health of children and adolescents?. International Journal of Disaster Risk Reduction, 101845.
Dursun, O. B., Turan, B., Pakyürek, M., & Tekin, A. (2021). Integrating telepsychiatric services into the conventional systems for psychiatric support to health care workers and their children during COVID-19 pandemics: results from a national experience. Telemedicine and e-Health, 27(3), 269-275.
for the 2019 novel coronavirus outbreak is urgently needed. The Lancet Psychiatry 7(3),
https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph17051729 International journal of environmental research and public health 17(5), 1729.
J.J. Liu, Y. Bao, X. Huang, J. Shi, L. Lu, Mental health considerations for children quarantined because of COVID-19, The Lancet Child & Adolescent Health 4 (2020) 347–349, https://doi.org/10.1016/S2352-4642(20)30096-1.
Jiao, W. Y., Wang, L. N., Liu, J., Fang, S. F., Jiao, F. Y., Pettoello-Mantovani, M., & Somekh, E. (2020). Behavioral and emotional disorders in children during the COVID-19 epidemic. The Journal of pediatrics, 221, 264.
Li ,Q., Guan, X., Wu, P., Wang, X., Zhou, L., Tong, Y., et al., 2020. Early transmission dynamics in Wuhan, China, of novel coronavirus-infected pneumonia. N. Engl. J. Med. 382 (13), 1199–1207.
Patrick, S. W., Henkhaus, L. E., Zickafoose, J. S., Lovell, K., Halvorson, A., Loch, S., ... & Davis, M. M. (2020). Well-being of parents and children during the COVID-19 pandemic: a national survey. Pediatrics, 146(4).
Psychological Responses and Associated Factors during the Initial Stage of the 2019 Šakan, D., Žuljević, D., & Rokvić, N. (2020). The role of basic psychological needs in well-being during the covid-19 outbreak: A self-determination theory perspective. Frontiers in Public Health, 8, 713.
Spinelli, M., Lionetti, F., Pastore, M., & Fasolo, M. (2020). Parents' stress and children's psychological problems in families facing the COVID-19 outbreak in Italy. Frontiers in psychology, 11, 1713.
Spoorthy, M. S., Pratapa, S. K., & Mahant, S. (2020). Mental health problems faced by healthcare workers due to the COVID-19 pandemic–A review. Asian journal of psychiatry, 51, 102119.
Tee, M. L., Tee, C. A., Anlacan, J. P., Aligam, K. J. G., Reyes, P. W. C., Kuruchittham, V., & Ho, R. C. (2020). Psychological impact of COVID-19 pandemic in the Philippines. Journal of affective disorders, 277, 379-391.
Wang, C., Pan, R., Wan, X., Tan, Y., Xu, L., Ho, C.S., & Ho, R.C., 2020a. Immediate
Xiang, Y.T., Yang, Y., Li, W., Zhang, Q., Cheung, T., Hg, C.H., 2020. Timely mental health care228-229. https://doi.org/10.1016/S2215-0366(20)30046-8
Yeasmin, S., Banik, R., Hossain, S., Hossain, M. N., Mahumud, R., Salma, N., & Hossain, M. M. (2020). Impact of COVID-19 pandemic on the mental health of children in Bangladesh: A cross-sectional study. Children and youth services review, 117, 105277.
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