Highlighted Session: Caregiver wellbeing in the context of COVID-19: evolving strategies to assess and respond to an evolving global crisis

Group Submission Type: Highlighted Paper Session

Proposal

The Nurturing Care Framework highlights the importance of caregiver health and emotional wellbeing for the promotion of optimal child development. More and more Early Childhood Development (ECD) initiatives have included support to the wellbeing of caregivers as an intrinsic component of their offering. Especially in programs that aim to support children and families in extremely vulnerable situations, attention has been brought to caring for the caregiver as an important aspect of fostering nurturing care to infants and young children. What happens then when ECD and other social support and development programs’ regular activities are paused or discontinued, and social networks and dynamics are disrupted as results of a global crisis? What is the impact on caregiver wellbeing and what can ECD program do to support caregivers?
The COVID-19 pandemic has caused disruptions in the economic, health, education systems and family dynamics worldwide. Stay-at-home orders, distance learning measures for children, and the loss of jobs have significantly reduced the direct access that caregivers often have to social networks and support, and increased stressors for most. This pandemic has radically changed family routines around the world and has created challenges to adapt to new/lack of work and new family demands. As the pandemic continues to affect the life of families worldwide, we are still learning how economic hardship, public health and social stressors have affected caregivers’ wellbeing, disrupted parenting practices, and impacted child development in different contexts.
In line with the conference theme of learning in fast changing environments, this panel will bring together findings on the pandemic’s impact on caregiver wellbeing and their ability to provide nurturing care to their young children, as well as examples of how programs are responding in these unprecedented times. It builds upon the 2020 CIES panel Taking Care of Caregivers in Vulnerable Settings, which provided the opportunity to discuss the available evidence and first-hand experiences on caring for caregivers in low and middle-income countries. The proposed panel will further shed light on initiatives and strategies that support the health, economic, socioemotional, and learning needs of caregivers at times of crisis. Presentations from ChildFund International, Food for the Hungry, Save the Children, UNICEF, and World Vision will frame this focus by offering examples from different regions and initiatives.

Sub Unit

• Early Childhood Development SIG

Individual Presentations

• How are the caregivers doing? Learning from ChildFund's Covid-19 global response plan and a study of caregiver wellbeing in rural Guatemala - Cassandra Scarpino, ChildFund International; Sandra Sandoval, Child Fund Guatemala; Darcy Strouse, ChildFund International

• Impact of maternal depression and treatment with interpersonal psychotherapy for groups on adoption of household behaviors affecting early childhood in Uganda - Erin Pfeiffer, Food for the Hungry; Lisa Marie Easterbrooks, Food for the Hungry

• Mitigating the effects of maternal anxiety and depression in Nepal through psychosocial support groups - Laxmi Paudyal, Save the Children; Sara Dang, Save the Children

• Model adaptation to support caregivers during the First 1000 Days of life in the West Bank, Occupied Palestinian Territory - Hana Rabadi, World Vision international

• ‘Caring for the Caregiver’ in low- and middle-income countries: multi-country validation study - Radhika Mitter, UNICEF