Faculty of Medicine, University of Moratuwa, Moratuwa, Sri Lanka.
Lady Ridgeway Hospital for Children, Colombo, Sri Lanka.
PLoS One. 2022 Aug 3;17(8):e0271757. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0271757. eCollection 2022.
Understanding parents' and children's mental health issues would help design population-specific intervention programs. The present study explored parents' perceived stress and child emotions and behavior during the COVID-19 lockdown among Sri Lankan families.
A cross-sectional survey was conducted among Sri Lankan parents of children aged 11 to 17 years. Validated instruments (Perceived Stress Scale-PSS and Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire-SDQ) evaluated parental stress, child emotions, and hyperactivity/inattention. Multiple linear regression assessed the predictors of mental health issues, including the interaction between age and gender.
Three hundred fifty-five parents responded to the survey (mothers:76%). One-third of parents experienced difficulties with their children during the pandemic. Emotions and hyperactivity-inattention problems measured via the SDQ scale were high among 38% of children, while the perceived stress was high in 79.2% of parents. Overall, child emotions and hyperactivity-inattention increased with decreasing age, increasing parent stress, having middle-income compared to high-income, and having a family member/close relative tested positive for COVID-19. Hyperactivity-inattention (29.3%) was more than the emotional problems (22%) among children. The emotional problems were reported more with increasing parent stress, while child hyperactivity-inattention alone was reported more with decreasing age, middle-income compared to high-income families, and increasing parent stress. Also, the interaction effect of age and gender indicated that higher age was related to greater parent-reported hyperactivity-inattention problems in males.
The findings highlight how the COVID-19 crisis and social isolation have contributed to increased parental stress and child emotional and hyperactivity-inattention problems. In addition to cautioning the healthcare workers, socio-culturally appropriate preventive and supportive mental health programs may help deal with further waves of COVID-19 or any other adverse circumstances.
了解父母和孩子的心理健康问题有助于设计针对特定人群的干预计划。本研究探讨了 COVID-19 封锁期间斯里兰卡家庭中父母的感知压力以及孩子的情绪和行为。
对年龄在 11 至 17 岁的斯里兰卡儿童的父母进行了横断面调查。使用经过验证的工具（感知压力量表 PSS 和长处和困难问卷 SDQ）评估父母的压力、孩子的情绪和多动/注意力不集中。多元线性回归评估了心理健康问题的预测因素，包括年龄和性别之间的相互作用。
共有 355 名家长对调查做出了回应（母亲：76%）。三分之一的父母在疫情期间与孩子相处困难。通过 SDQ 量表测量的情绪和多动/注意力不集中问题在 38%的儿童中较高，而父母的感知压力在 79.2%的父母中较高。总体而言，儿童的情绪和多动/注意力不集中随着年龄的降低而增加，父母的压力增加，中等收入家庭比高收入家庭多，有家庭成员/近亲 COVID-19 检测呈阳性。儿童多动/注意力不集中（29.3%）多于情绪问题（22%）。父母压力增加时，情绪问题的报告更多，而儿童多动/注意力不集中问题仅与年龄降低、中等收入家庭比高收入家庭、父母压力增加有关。此外，年龄和性别之间的交互效应表明，年龄较大与男性父母报告的多动/注意力不集中问题更多有关。
这些发现强调了 COVID-19 危机和社会隔离如何导致父母压力增加以及孩子的情绪和多动/注意力不集中问题增加。除了告诫医护人员外，社会文化上适当的预防和支持性心理健康计划可能有助于应对 COVID-19 或任何其他不利情况的进一步浪潮。
