Open AccessLIVING WITH COVID-19: A SCHOOL GOING CHILD'S PERSPECTIVE
Author(s) -
Avanee Dalmia,
Vijay Kumar Tadia,
Aarti Vij
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
international journal of scientific research
Language(s) - English
DOI - 10.36106/ijsr/3424524
Subject(s) - government (linguistics) , snowball sampling , pandemic , psychosocial , population , socioeconomics , psychology , economic growth , geography , covid-19 , medicine , environmental health , sociology , psychiatry , disease , philosophy , linguistics , pathology , infectious disease (medical specialty) , economics
The world is experiencing unprecedented challenges from COVID-19, the coronavirus pandemic. Children are less susceptible, yet their lives have changed in profound ways. They are hit the hardest by psychosocial impact of this pandemic. This is a universal crisis and the impact will be lifelong for some children. Being quarantined in homes and institutions can impose greater psychological burden than the physical sufferings that may be caused by the virus. Closure of schools, lack of outdoor activity, etc. can potentially create monotony, distress, impatience, annoyance and varied neuropsychiatric manifestations. Aims and Objectives:The aim of this study was to understand the perspectives of school going children towards COVID-19 pandemic in order to create child centric communication to address their most important concerns.Materials and Methods:A Cross-sectional and descriptive study was conducted during the month of May & June 2020. The data was collected by Snowball sampling through a national level survey. The study population included all the school going children willing to participate in the study and this included children from private schools, government schools and schools for the specially abled. Results:Respondents - About 7,000 responses were obtained from almost all states and union territories. A few international responses from countries such as Indonesia, USA, Australia, Japan, UK etc were also received. Most of the respondents were of age 14 or below with almost equal gender distribution. The top 5 responding regions were Delhi, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Odisha and Rajasthan. Causes of spread - About half (50%) of the respondents felt that either meeting an infected person or touching something that they had touched would lead to the spread of the virus. Most children felt that they can avoid catching the virus by:1. Maintaining a 6 feet distance between one another2. Washing hands regularly 3. Avoiding crowded areas.Communication channels: The main channel of communication for information has been news channels for people in majority of the states, of all age groups as well as both genders. The second most used channel of communication has been social media for a few states and government advisories for others. Fears - Most of the respondents were scared of the fact that it is uncertain when COVID-19 will end while others were concerned over no cure being found as yet. This trend was similar between different age groups, genders and majority of the states. Hopes - Children in most states and of both genders are mostly looking forward to being able to go to normal school once again while children above the age of 17 are looking forward to going out once the pandemic ends.Conclusion:The children were aware of the basic facts about the virus, the mode of its spread, methods of prevention of the infection. They want to know when the pandemic would end, how to live with it, how an infected person could be cured and when the vaccine would be made availalbe.