Mothers’ Perceptions, Feelings, and Mental Health During the COVID-19 Pandemic and Social Distancing

• In Event: Poster Session 13
  In Poster Session: PS 13 Topic - Parenting & Parent-Child Relationships

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic has changed many lives across the globe, since the coping measure adopted was the distancing and social isolation, as a control strategy in the spread of the virus contamination in population, as there is not yet an effective pharmacological treatment or a vaccine as a preventive measure (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention [CDC], 2020; Goodman & Borio, 2020). Parents needed to adapt their daily routine to work remotely, in addition to caring children who are at home, deprived of attending schools (Cluver et al., 2020). This current challenge has implications on the familial dynamic and several impacts on child behavior and emotional state (Cluver et al., 2020; Jiao et al., 2020). The aim of the present study was to examine the maternal perceptions, feelings and mental health indicators of depression, during the COVID-19 pandemic and the social distancing period. Also, we assessed the mother-report of child behavior. The sample included 68 mothers of 1-to-6-year old children, who had previously participated in preventive parenting intervention programs and were contacted again to participate voluntarily in this study. The mothers previously answered the Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-9; Kroenke, Spitzer, & Williams, 2001) prior to the COVID-19 pandemic and social distancing period. Later, during this period, the mothers answered an online-questionnaire sent via WhatsApp to them, via Google Forms. The questionnaire of the impact of the social distancing during the pandemic period included questions about mothers` feelings and perceptions and maternal-report of child behavior (Linhares, Altafim, Gaspardo, & Oliveira, 2020), and the PHQ-9. The data analysis was performed using statistical descriptive analysis and within- group comparison (McNemar test; p-value ≤ 0.05). The results showed that the mothers presented more depression symptoms during the social distancing than the pre-pandemic period (PHQ-9, pre-pandemic = 50% and during-pandemic = 63%; p = 0.09). In addition, the mothers reported feelings of uncomfortable with the coronavirus (n = 53 [78%]), specific fear of the Covid-19 disease (n = 43 [63%]), and negative feelings (fear, anguish, anxiety, and insecurity) (n = 13 [34%]). The great majority of mothers did not have positive expectations of learning from the current moment (90%) and, unexpectedly, they did not recognize the relevance of take care at this moment (87%). Only 17% of the mothers would like to talk about this challenge time with a professional to receive psychological support; all the mothers that presented this demand were supported by the team of researchers. Regarding the child behavior, 34 mothers (50%) reported child problems during the social distancing period, such as externalizing behavior (agitation, tantrum, and mess, n = 10 [29%]) and maladjustment to the new daily routine (n = 8 [23%]). In conclusion, the findings of this study confirmed the impact of the COVID-10 pandemic and their consequence of social distancing in mothers and children at early childhood. The professionals have to be very aware to support them even in a remote way.

Authors

• Maria Beatriz Martins Linhares, Universidade de São Paulo (USP)
  Presenting Author

• Camila Regina Lotto, Universidade de São Paulo (USP)
  Non-Presenting Author

• Rebeca Cristina de OLIVEIRA, Universidade de São Paulo (USP)
  Non-Presenting Author

• Elisa Rachel Pisani Altafim, Universidade de São Paulo (USP)
  Non-Presenting Author

• Claudia Maria Gaspardo, University of Sao Paulo
  Non-Presenting Author