Comparison of Anxiety and Depression Levels of Children with and without Healthcare Professionals Parents During the COVID-19 Pandemic

Yıl 2025, Cilt: 35 Sayı: 1, 116 - 122, 28.02.2025

Dilek Şayık , Ayfer Açıkgoz , Yi Wen Wang , Özlem Mumcu

https://doi.org/10.54005/geneltip.1540542

Öz

ABSTRACT
Background/Aims: Little is known about the effects of the pandemic on children and children whose parents are healthcare professionals. This study was conducted to compare the anxiety and depression levels of children aged 8-17 years with and without parents who are healthcare professionals during the COVID-19 pandemic period.
Methods: This descriptive study was completed with 224 children. The research was conducted in Eskisehir, Turkiye, between 14 May and 14 June 2020, using the online survey method. The data were collected with the Descriptive Information Form and the Anxiety and Depression Scale in Children-Renewed Form. p<0.05 was considered statistically significant in the study.
Results: The average age of the children (n=224) is 13.63±2.99. Children received information about COVID-19 from television/internet (86.6%), parents (74.1%) and teachers (44.6%). There was no relationship between children's information acquisition characteristics and anxiety and depression scores (p>0.05). The rate of parents working in the field of health is 51.3%. The anxiety and depression scores of children whose parent(s) were healthcare professional were statistically higher than those whose parents were not (p=0.030, p=0.040, respectively). It was determined that children whose parent(s) were healthcare professional were more worried about their parents going to work during the pandemic period and were afraid of contracting COVID-19 disease (p=0.005; p=0.029).
Conclusion: This study is important in terms of showing the effects of COVID-19 on children of health professionals and non-health professionals parents during the pandemic. It becomes clear that effective measures must be taken to protect the mental health of healthcare workers and their children, who are considered to be among the vulnerable groups during the epidemic period. For this reason, it may be beneficial to support children more effectively psychologically during pandemic periods and improve the working conditions of parents.

KEYWORDS: anxiety, COVID-19 pandemic, depression, healthcare professional, child

Anahtar Kelimeler

anxiety, covid-19 pandemic, depression, healthcare professional, child

Kaynakça

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