Sleep across childhood during the COVID-19 pandemic: A narrative review of the literature and clinical case examples

Without the structure and schedule of traditional activities such as in-person school and socialization, evidence is emerging of pediatric sleep changes during the COVID-19 pandemic. A narrative review was conducted of the sleep literature during the pandemic for preschoolers, school-aged children, and adolescents. Changes in sleep and risk and protective factors for sleep heath during the COVID-19 pandemic are reviewed along with real-life clinical case examples for each developmental period. Given the high rates of pediatric sleep disturbance, clinicians, researchers, and policymakers should refine screening strategies and facilitate referrals for behavioral interventions to support sleep health during pandemics and other natural disasters. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved)

Pediatric Behavioral Health during the COVID-19 Pandemic: Expert Advice for Preparedness, Response, and Recovery.

The COVID-19 pandemic exacerbated the child mental health crisis and existing disparities. Child anxiety, depression, suicide attempts and completions, and mental-health-related emergency department visits significantly increased. In response to this crisis, the Administration for Strategic Preparedness and Response (ASPR) developed behavioral health task forces associated with funded pediatric centers of disaster excellence. The Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) funded the Pediatric Pandemic Network (PPN) to prepare for future endemics and pandemics, with behavioral health identified as a priority in mitigation, preparedness, response, and recovery. This commentary provides insights from pediatric disaster preparedness and response behavioral health subject matter experts. Our roles have been to identify how to build behavioral health professional competencies across disciplines and various medical settings and to strengthen emergency interdisciplinary behavioral health care capability regionally and at the national level. Specific examples of interdisciplinary training and demonstration projects are included as models for enhancing behavioral health situational awareness and developing curricula to support preparedness and response for the current ongoing pandemic and future natural and biological disasters. This commentary also includes a call to action for workforce development to move beyond a boots-on-the-ground mentality for pediatric behavioral health disaster preparedness and response toward a more inclusive role for behavioral health providers of varied specialties. This means that behavioral health providers should become more informed of federal programs in this area, seek further training, and find innovative ways to collaborate with their medical colleagues and community partners.

Sleep and media use among children with neurodevelopmental disorders during the COVID-19 pandemic

Children with neurodevelopmental disorders commonly have sleep problems and higher screen time compared with their typically developing peers. Relationships of their media use to sleep are unknown during the COVID-19 pandemic. Seventy-five caregivers/parents of children ages 5–12 years with neurodevelopmental disorders completed surveys during the pandemic, reporting average child media use of 3.35 hours/day (SD = 0.36) and sleep duration of 9.22 hours (SD = 1.27). Media use duration was not significantly related to any sleep outcomes in the total sample. Unexpectedly, in subgroup analyses with COVID-19 exposure/distress variables, greater media use duration significantly related to less sleep-related impairment (p = .012) and disturbance (p = .0004). Clinical implications are that media use/sleep plans should be individually tailored for these at-risk children. [ FROM AUTHOR] Copyright of Children's Health Care is the property of Taylor & Francis Ltd and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full . (Copyright applies to all s.)

The Society of Behavioral Sleep Medicine (SBSM) COVID-19 Task Force: Objectives and Summary Recommendations for Managing Sleep during a Pandemic.

OBJECTIVE/BACKGROUND: As a response to clinical observations that the pervasive stress and social/environmental disruptions from the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic have also impacted sleep, the Society of Behavioral Sleep Medicine (SBSM) convened the COVID-19 Task Force with goals to identify and disseminate information that could be useful in addressing sleep concerns during this crisis. Participants Members of the SBSM COVID-19 Task Force. Results/Conclusions Herein is a summary of the resources developed by the SBSM COVID-19 Task force, which includes links to online materials developed for use by providers and patients, as well as brief descriptions of key recommendations by the Task Force for specific sleep conditions (e.g., acute insomnia, nightmares) and vulnerable populations (e.g., parents, essential/healthcare workers, older adults).