Spending Time with Mothers as a Resource for Children with Chronic Diseases: A Comparison of Asthma, Type 1 Diabetes, and Cancer during COVID-19 Pandemic

Abstract

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, many families had to manage new difficulties, especially those of chronically ill children. More and more research has focused on the negative effects of the pandemic on psychological wellbeing, while less is known about the resources. The present study aimed to explore the role of time spent with mothers in chronically ill children’s populations during the COVID-19 pandemic. Moreover, it explored the differences in mothers’ and children’s psychosocial functioning in three clinical populations. Four groups were recruited and compared: 7–15 year old children with asthma (45), type 1 diabetes (52), and cancer (33), as well as their healthy counterparts (41), and their respective mothers. They were administered standardized questionnaires and ad hoc surveys assessing psychological wellbeing and worries. Children of the four groups scored significantly differently with respect to the concerns for contagion, internalizing symptoms, and prosocial behaviors; mothers had worries about the consequences of their children’s contagion related to the chronic illness, as well as time with the child. The multiple linear regression model showed an association of being affected by cancer, suffering from type 1 diabetes, and spending less time with the child with an increase in children’s internalizing problems. Time with mothers seemed to be a resource for psychological wellbeing during the pandemic. Clinical implications are discussed.

Examining Coping Strategies and Their Relation with Anxiety: Implications for Children Diagnosed with Cancer or Type 1 Diabetes and Their Caregivers

“…They represent stressful conditions to cope with, on a spectrum of greater to lower lifethreatening. Moreover, the two pathologies have already been compared in the literature, aiming to reach a better insight into the specific psychological implications of each chronic disease [9,13,14].…”

Do Italian people still wear masks? Analysis of personality and dispositional correlates of facemask use in post Covid-19 scenario

“…The present research focuses on the Italian situation. Recently, considerable literature has grown around the theme of the Covid-19 pandemic’s psychosocial impact in both nonclinical populations 21 , 22 and special ones 23 – 27 . However, less is known about face mask use when enforced and non-enforced.…”