Development and Early Implementation of a Public Communication Campaign to Help Adults to Support Children and Adolescents to Cope With Coronavirus-Related Emotions: A Community Case Study

Abstract

Epidemics and pandemics can traumatically impact the emotional wellbeing of adults, children, and adolescents in diverse ways. This impact can be reduced by applying a range of evidence-based coping strategies. Based on previous research, we created a pamphlet-based communication campaign designed to assist adults to provide support for young people confronted with emotional distress associated with the pandemic caused by the novel coronavirus [severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2)] and the related disease [coronavirus disease (COVID-19)] in 2020. We developed a pamphlet describing the common emotions children and adolescents report feeling in the face of disasters and the coping strategies that have proven effective in mitigating them. The target population was adults who interact with children and adolescents in both formal and informal settings. The pamphlet included basic information on this specific emergency, emotions that might be commonly experienced, and coping strategies for dealing with negative emotions. The aim of this paper is to describe the planning, development, and implementation of the campaign. First, we monitored how the media gave visibility to the campaign during the 40 days following the release of the pamphlet: it potentially reached a large audience at a national and international level through at least 216 media channels included the HEMOT ® (Helmet for EMOTions) website. Second, Google Analytics ™ data from the HEMOT ® website enabled us to examine the characteristics of the visitors to the website and the behavior of those who viewed the pamphlet. More than 6,000 visitors, most from Europe followed by the Americas, visited the website in the first 40 days after the pamphlet publication. The webpage including the pamphlet obtained over 6,200 views, most directly or via other websites. A cluster analysis suggested that the access to the webpage did not mirror the trend concerning the new cases of COVID-19 in Italy (which increased during the central phase of the campaign) or worldwide Raccanello et al.

Adults’ expectations on children’s earthquake-related emotions and coping strategies

“…HEMOT® project, Helmet for EMOTions, https://www.hemot.eu; Raccanello et al, 2020aRaccanello et al, , 2019bRaccanello et al, , 2020b, with a particular emphasis on knowledge about earthquake-related emotions and efficacious coping strategies. Also, during an emergency, they can be helpful for identifying promptly emotions and effective coping strategies to be fostered during emergencies, as done for the development of a recent public communication campaign devoted to help adults to support children and adolescents during the COVID-19 pandemic (Raccanello et al, 2020c).…”

An intervention promoting understanding of achievement emotions with middle school students

“…Our data confirming the links between increased abilities on understanding emotions and ER on the one hand, and achievement emotions and performance on the other hand, support the argument for schools to devote time and attention to interventions focusing on emotions. A second implication is that fostering students' emotional competence can have positive consequences not only within the school: They could in fact be generalized to cope with the challenges presented both by everyday tasks external to the school and by extraordinary events like is the case for natural disasters such as earthquakes (Raccanello et al 2020b) or pandemics (Raccanello et al 2020c).…”

Coronavirus Disease Stress Among Italian Healthcare Workers: The Role of Coping Humor

“…There is evidence that this outbreak has impacted the psychological wellbeing of HCWs in several ways, causing anxiety ( Ahn et al, 2020 ; Magnavita et al, 2020 ; Preti et al, 2020 ; Raccanello et al, 2020 ; Xiao et al, 2020 ), burnout ( Denning et al, 2020 ), depression ( Lam et al, 2020 ; Preti et al, 2020 ), insomnia ( Magnavita et al, 2020 ; Preti et al, 2020 ; Stojanov et al, 2020 ; Xiao et al, 2020 ), and emotional dysregulation ( Ornell et al, 2020 ). HCWs have been forced to cope with extraordinary challenges and perceived stress by relying on coping strategies and positive psychological resources, as they did during previous epidemics (e.g., Wu et al, 2009 ; Park et al, 2018 ; Preti et al, 2020 ).…”