Key Points
Question
Is the COVID-19 pandemic and stressor exposure associated with caregivers’ perceptions of children’s psychological well-being?
Findings
In this survey study among 32 217 caregivers of public-school students, endorsement of child mental health concerns was significantly higher and endorsement of positive adjustment characteristics was significantly lower after the end of in-person instruction compared with before. After accounting for covariates, child mental health concerns increased in probability and positive adjustment characteristics decreased in probability as COVID-19 exposure and family stressors increased.
Meaning
These findings suggest that COVID-19 was associated with negative caregiver perceptions of children’s psychological well-being, requiring a comprehensive public health strategy.
Objective
The prevalence of pediatric food allergy (FA) is increasing and, due to early disease onset, requires significant caregiver management that is associated with psychosocial burden. Caregiver perception of how they cope and handle FA-related events (self-efficacy) has been linked to psychosocial outcomes in racially/geographically homogenous samples. This study explores FA-related caregiver self-efficacy and associations with FA-related caregiver quality of life (QoL) in a diverse cohort.
Methods
Caregivers of children, diagnosed with IgE-mediated FA who identified as non-Hispanic Black or White, were recruited from U.S. academic allergy clinics. Caregivers completed demographic and medical questionnaires, the Food Allergy Self-Efficacy Scale for Parents (FASE-P), Food Allergy Independent Measure—Parent Form (FAIM), and the Food Allergy Quality of Life—Parental Burden (FAQL-PB). Bivariate and multivariate associations estimated relationships between study variables.
Results
Caregivers of 365 children (Mage = 5.8 years, 62.2% male, 31.1% Black) were enrolled. Caregivers reported high FA self-efficacy (M = 82.06/100), moderate perceptions of risk/FA severity (FAIM: M = 3.9/7), and some limitations on the FAQL-PB (M = 3.9/7). Self-efficacy was related to lower perceptions of risk/FA severity across all demographic groups (r = −.42, p < .001). Caregivers who reported higher self-efficacy reported better QoL, particularly Black caregivers (r = .67).
Conclusions
In this sample of caregivers of children with FA, greater self-efficacy was related to improved QoL regardless of sociodemographic factors. Caregivers’ perception of risk was lower for those with greater self-efficacy. Future research into the impact of FA management on QoL among diverse caregivers is needed.
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