Managing Children's Anxiety During COVID-19 Pandemic: Strategies for Providers and Caregivers

Abstract

The Coronavirus Disease 2019 pandemic by virtue of its sudden, unprecedented and widespread nature, has led to a multitude of psychological effects on individuals across societies. This includes anxiety which has important implications on the daily functioning, physical and mental health of individuals. Children are a vulnerable group of the population who can experience anxiety which potentially can lead to long-lasting implications on their health for years to come. It is thus important that their caregivers, including parents and healthcare professionals be aware of strategies that can help with anxiety in children. This article discusses anxiety in children in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic and outlines strategies that may be helpful.

Anxiety, Coping Strategies and Resilience among Children and Adolescents during COVID-19 Pandemic: A Systematic Review

“…Kang et al [46] drew four main tactics for caregivers: Acknowledge, Discuss, Do, and Reflect. The first one refers to caregivers' acknowledgement of the change and its possible consequences in order to ensure children that they can turn to their caregivers for support.…”

“…Third tactic is associated with ensuring predictability in child's environment, maintaining routines and -what seems to be crucial -equipping children with coping strategies (through expression of their feelings via writing and drawing, breathing exercises and progressive muscle relaxation, staying with touch with friends and schoolmates over social media platforms but with caregiver supervision). Finally, the fourth suggestion indicates caregivers' affecting their psychological well-being [46]. Also De Young et al [47] in their report described Australian parents' efforts to support their children during early stages of COVID.…”

The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on children’s mental health and wellbeing, and beyond: A scoping review

“…While research shows that children's physical health is less likely to be impacted by the COVID-19 virus (Bond, Dibner, & Schweingruber, 2020;Castagnoli et al, 2020;Ludvigsson, 2020;Spaull, 2020), new evidence is starting to emerge indicating that in a situation characterised by constant change, such as a pandemic, children are reporting unpleasant symptoms. Recent research suggests that anxiety, depression and mood disorders have been the most common mental health issues reported by children during the COVID-19 pandemic (Courtney, Watson, Battaglia, Mulsant, & Szatmar, 2020;Kang et al, 2020). In fact, an escalation in physical symptoms experienced by children, including tummy aches, headaches, feeling sick and panic attaches, have reported by medical professionals despite the fact that these were otherwise healthy children and had not been infected by the coronavirus.…”

“…Since the COVID-19 pandemic has amplified the stress families are experiencing, high parental anxiety can be projected onto children, negatively impacting their wellbeing (Kang et al, 2020;OECD, 2020a;Parsons, 2020;Sprang & Silman, 2013). The mounting rates of unemployment during the pandemic have caused an abrupt and major upheaval in the daily lives of many families.…”

“…As a vulnerable group of society, children are experiencing the psychological impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic. These can potentially have longstanding implications for their health outcomes (Kang, Lim, Ragen, Tan, & Aishworiya, 2020), and their social and economic future (Prime, Wade, & Browne, 2020). We now know that the number of new infections and the death rate are likely to increase unless the community has been vaccinated.…”