The COVID-19 pandemic and the measures taken created opportunities in various areas of life, but also created new challenges or increased existing ones, which can also have a (direct or indirect) impact on health and well-being of the population or certain population groups. This health impact assessment (HIA) was commissioned to provide an overview of these effects. The foundation of gathering information for the impact assessment was a national literature research and analysis combined with an online survey. In addition, a search of international literature was conducted by the European Observatory on Health Systems and Policies. The impact assessment and an initial collection of recommendations for action were carried out together with relevant stakeholders in the context of several thematically merged online assessment workshops. Positive and negative - direct as well as indirect - impacts on health in different areas of life could be identified, with the negative impacts predominating in proportion. In addition to identifying the impacts, the HIA also identified groups that were particularly affected by the pandemic. In the course of this HIA, it became clear that the direct in indirect health impacts in many areas of life are interrelated (e. g., job loss, family climate, social inclusion, and psychological well-being) and that a separate discussion often fell short. This HIA provides an overview of various impacts and allows first impressions on actions for future measures in regard to the pandemic in various areas of life, according to the HiAP approach.
The Austrian early childhood interventions programme (“Frühe Hilfen”) is an overall concept of health promotion measures, aiming to support families depending on their individual needs to create good conditions for raising their children. This should contribute to long-term health of the children. The manifold effects of this complex intervention on the families are to be investigated in the future. To do so, a research concept shall be developed using a participatory research approach. A selective literature search was carried out to identify concrete recommendations for participatory research and previous experiences on the participation of parents. Based on these results, semi-structured interviews and group discussions with families were carried out. According to literature, parents have rarely been used as co-researchers. Our experiences show that access to families in burdened life circumstances is possible via the low-threshold structures of our early childhood interventions programme. In 2018, 21 families participated in interviews and group discussions. The latter method is particularly well suited for obtaining targeted information from families and building trust for long-term cooperation. Still, the stressful family situations make it difficult to participate in research activities. Therefore, specific conditions are required. At present, it is clear that it is feasible to involve families and test research methods together. The next step, an equal cooperation of families and researchers, shall be achieved by the use of a research group. A small group started in Spring 2019, eventually being involved in the implementation of some methods during fall 2019. Whether families are willing to participate continuously for a long time in research activities remains unclear, so far. Key messages Participatory research with families in stressful situations needs time and patience as well as specific conditions, but it is possible. Participation of the target group in the planning phase of further research can lead to relevant insights for programme improvements.
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