Idoiaga Nahia, Berasategi Naiara, Eiguren Amaia, Picaza Maitane
Department of Evolutionary and Educational Psychology, University of the Basque Country UPV/EHU, Bilbao, Spain.
Department of Didactics and School Organisation, University of the Basque Country UPV/EHU, Bilbao, Spain.
Front Psychol. 2020 Aug 12;11:1952. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2020.01952. eCollection 2020.
COVID-19, a new emerging infectious disease (EID), has spread throughout the world, including Europe. Spain, in particular, has witnessed a significant outbreak of the pandemic. All classes have been canceled, and the government has declared a state of emergency, ordering the lockdown and confinement of the entire population. All children in the country have been confined to their homes since March 13 and are not allowed to leave at any time. This population is thus facing the harshest restrictions. Given the vulnerable situation of children, the aim of this research is to understand how they represent and emotionally cope with the COVID-19 crisis. A free association exercise elicited by the word "coronavirus" was completed by 228 children (age range: 3-12 years) from the North of Spain. To analyze the content, we employed the Reinert method with Iramuteq software for lexical analysis. The results revealed that children represent the COVID-19 as an enemy that is being fought by the doctors. Children are afraid and worried about catching the virus, but mainly because they think they can infect their grandparents, and this makes them feel guilty. Moreover, the lockdown situation has produced conflicting emotions in the children. On the one hand, they are scared, nervous, lonely, sad, bored, and angry, but they also feel safe, calm, and happy with their families. These results indicate the need for governments to also consider children in their management of the current situation by placing greater emphasis on social and inclusive policies to help alleviate the possible effects that they may suffer as a consequence of the pandemic and the lockdown. In short, there is a need to address the psychological, educational, social, health, and well-being needs of children.
新冠病毒病（COVID-19）是一种新出现的传染病，已在包括欧洲在内的全球范围内传播。特别是西班牙，经历了该疫情的大规模爆发。所有课程都已取消，政府宣布进入紧急状态，下令对全体民众进行封锁和隔离。自3月13日以来，该国所有儿童都被限制在家中，任何时候都不准外出。因此，这一群体正面临着最严格的限制措施。鉴于儿童的脆弱处境，本研究的目的是了解他们如何呈现以及在情感上应对新冠病毒病危机。来自西班牙北部的228名儿童（年龄范围：3至12岁）完成了一项由“冠状病毒”一词引发的自由联想练习。为了分析内容，我们采用了赖纳特方法，并使用Iramuteq软件进行词汇分析。结果显示，儿童将新冠病毒病视为一种正在被医生抗击的敌人。儿童害怕并担心感染病毒，但主要是因为他们认为自己可能会传染给祖父母，这让他们感到内疚。此外，封锁状态在儿童中产生了矛盾的情绪。一方面，他们感到害怕、紧张、孤独、悲伤、无聊和愤怒，但他们也因与家人在一起而感到安全、平静和快乐。这些结果表明，政府在应对当前局势时也需要考虑儿童，应更加重视社会和包容性政策，以帮助减轻他们可能因疫情和封锁而遭受的影响。简而言之，有必要关注儿童的心理、教育、社会、健康和福祉需求。
