Parents' perceptions of children's emotional well‐being during spring 2020 COVID‐19 restrictions: A qualitative study with parents of young children in England

  1. Stephanie Chambers
  2. Joanne Clarke
  3. Ruth Kipping
  4. Rebecca Langford
  5. Rachel Brophy
  6. Kim Hannam
  7. Hilary Taylor
  8. Kate Willis
  9. Sharon A. Simpson

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Abstract

Background

During COVID‐19 restrictions in England in spring 2020, early years settings for young children were closed to all but a small percentage of families, social contact was limited and play areas in parks were closed. Concerns were raised about the impact of these restrictions on young children's emotional well‐being. The aim of this study was to explore parents' perceptions of young children's emotional well‐being during these COVID‐19 restrictions.

Methods

We interviewed 20 parents of children 3–4 years due to begin school in England in September 2020. Interviews were conducted via telephone ( n  = 18) and video call ( n  = 2), audio‐recorded and transcribed verbatim. Interviews focused on childcare arrangements, children's behaviour and transition to school. A sample of transcripts were coded line by line to create a coding framework, which was subsequently applied to the remaining transcripts. Coded data were then analysed using a nurture lens to develop themes and further understanding.

Results

Participants were predominantly mothers ( n  = 16), White British ( n  = 10) and educated to degree level ( n  = 13), with half the sample living in the highest deprivation quintile in England ( n  = 10). Five were single parents. Three themes developed from nurturing principles were identified: creating age‐appropriate explanations, understanding children's behaviour and concerns about school transition. Parents reported that their children's emotional well‐being was impacted and described attempts to support their young children while looking ahead to their transition to primary school.

Conclusions

This study is one of the first to examine in‐depth perceptions of COVID‐19 restrictions on young children's emotional well‐being. The longer term impacts are not yet understood. Although young children may be unable to understand in detail what the virus is, they undoubtedly experience the disruption it brings to their lives. The well‐being of families and children needs to be nurtured as they recover from the effects of the pandemic to allow them to thrive.

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  1. Version published to 10.1111/cch.13034
  2. ScreenIT

    SciScore for 10.1101/2021.07.02.21259900: (What is this?)

    Please note, not all rigor criteria are appropriate for all manuscripts.

    Table 1: Rigor

    Ethicsnot detected.
    Sex as a biological variablenot detected.
    Randomizationnot detected.
    Blindingnot detected.
    Power Analysisnot detected.

    Table 2: Resources

    No key resources detected.

    Results from OddPub: We did not detect open data. We also did not detect open code. Researchers are encouraged to share open data when possible (see Nature blog).

    Results from LimitationRecognizer: We detected the following sentences addressing limitations in the study:
    Strengths and limitations: This study offers novel and in-depth insights into how parents with a pre-school child managed their children’s emotional wellbeing in response to COVID-19 restrictions. It complements quantitative surveys (Dodd et al., 2020; Public Health Scotland, 2020) by providing in-depth understanding of the stresses parents and their children face. These findings will be important for improving the support provided to families during future restrictions and informing plans for longer-term recovery (Hefferon et al., 2020). We note however that we only include the perspectives of parents, rather than the children themselves. Using a nurturing lens helped to develop the themes identified at an earlier analysis stage and provided interpretative insight into early child development. The results indicated that parents were engaging in positive parenting practices that could be described as responsive and nurturing. We acknowledge, however, that parents who were struggling to care for their children during COVID-19 restrictions might be less likely to participate in a study such as this, or to disclose less optimal parenting strategies in the interview context. The study had strong representation of families living in areas of high deprivation and of different ethnicities, providing the opportunity to ensure multiple perspectives were considered. Nevertheless, the sample was highly educated, and may not reflect the experiences of parents with lower levels of educati...

    Results from TrialIdentifier: No clinical trial numbers were referenced.

    Results from Barzooka: We did not find any issues relating to the usage of bar graphs.

    Results from JetFighter: We did not find any issues relating to colormaps.

    Results from rtransparent:
    • Thank you for including a conflict of interest statement. Authors are encouraged to include this statement when submitting to a journal.
    • Thank you for including a funding statement. Authors are encouraged to include this statement when submitting to a journal.
    • No protocol registration statement was detected.

    Results from scite Reference Check: We found no unreliable references.

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  3. Version published to 10.1101/2021.07.02.21259900v1 on medRxiv