Labour Market Shocks and Parental Investments during the Covid-19 Pandemic.

This paper studies spill-over effects of parental labour market shocks at two time points in the Covid-19 crisis: right after its onset in April 2020, and in January 2021. We use rich data from the UK to look at the consequences of immediate and persistent shocks that hit parents' economic livelihoods. These negative labour market shocks have substantially larger impacts when suffered by fathers than by mothers. Children of fathers that suffered the most severe shocks - earnings dropping to zero - are the ones that are consistently impacted. In April 2020, they were 10 percentage points less likely to have received additional paid learning resources, but their fathers were spending about 30 more minutes per day helping them with school work. However, by January 2021, this latter association switches sign, as the negative spill-over onto children's education occurred for those fathers facing more persistent, negative labour market shocks as the crisis progressed. The paper discusses potential mechanisms driving these results, finding a sustained deterioration of household finances and a worsening of father's mental health to be factors at play.

The Impact of Maternal Prenatal Stress Related to the COVID-19 Pandemic during the First 1000 Days: A Historical Perspective.

The COVID-19 pandemic has a major impact on society, particularly affecting its vulnerable members, including pregnant women and their unborn children. Pregnant mothers reported fear of infection, fear of vertical transmission, fear of poor birth and child outcomes, social isolation, uncertainty about their partner's presence during medical appointments and delivery, increased domestic abuse, and other collateral damage, including vaccine hesitancy. Accordingly, pregnant women's known vulnerability for mental health problems has become a concern during the COVID-19 pandemic, also because of the known effects of prenatal stress for the unborn child. The current narrative review provides a historical overview of transgenerational effects of exposure to disasters during pregnancy, and the role of maternal prenatal stress. We place these effects into the perspective of the COVID-19 pandemic. Hereby, we aim to draw attention to the psychological impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on women of reproductive age (15-49 year) and its potential associated short-term and long-term consequences for the health of children who are conceived, carried, and born during this pandemic. Timely detection and intervention during the first 1000 days is essential to reduce the burden of transgenerational effects of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Evaluating the effectiveness and cost effectiveness of the 'strengthening families, strengthening communities' group-based parenting programme: study protocol and initial insights.

BACKGROUND: Up to 20% of UK children experience socio-emotional difficulties which can have serious implications for themselves, their families and society. Stark socioeconomic and ethnic inequalities in children's well-being exist. Supporting parents to develop effective parenting skills is an important preventive strategy in reducing inequalities. Parenting interventions have been developed, which aim to reduce the severity and impact of these difficulties. However, most parenting interventions in the UK focus on early childhood (0-10 years) and often fail to engage families from ethnic minority groups and those living in poverty. Strengthening Families, Strengthening Communities (SFSC) is a parenting programme designed by the Race Equality Foundation, which aims to address this gap. Evidence from preliminary studies is encouraging, but no randomised controlled trials have been undertaken so far. METHODS/DESIGN: The TOGETHER study is a multi-centre, waiting list controlled, randomised trial, which aims to test the effectiveness of SFSC in families with children aged 3-18 across seven urban areas in England with ethnically and socially diverse populations. The primary outcome is parental mental well-being (assessed by the Warwick-Edinburgh Mental Well-Being Scale). Secondary outcomes include child socio-emotional well-being, parenting practices, family relationships, self-efficacy, quality of life, and community engagement. Outcomes are assessed at baseline, post intervention, three- and six-months post intervention. Cost effectiveness will be estimated using a cost-utility analysis and cost-consequences analysis. The study is conducted in two stages. Stage 1 comprised a 6-month internal pilot to determine the feasibility of the trial. A set of progression criteria were developed to determine whether the stage 2 main trial should proceed. An embedded process evaluation will assess the fidelity and acceptability of the intervention. DISCUSSION: In this paper we provide details of the study protocol for this trial. We also describe challenges to implementing the protocol and how these were addressed. Once completed, if beneficial effects on both parental and child outcomes are found, the impact, both immediate and longer term, are potentially significant. As the intervention focuses on supporting families living in poverty and those from minority ethnic communities, the intervention should also ultimately have a beneficial impact on reducing health inequalities. TRIAL REGISTRATION: Prospectively registered Randomised Controlled Trial ISRCTN15194500 .

An environmental scan of impacts and interventions for women with methamphetamine use in pregnancy and their children.

BACKGROUND: Indigenous women are overrepresented among people who use (PWU) methamphetamine (MA) due to colonialism and intergenerational trauma. Prenatal methamphetamine exposure (PME) is increasing as the number of PWUMA of childbearing age grows. Yet impacts of MA in pregnancy and effective interventions are not yet well understood. OBJECTIVE: We conducted an environmental scan of published and grey literature (2010-2020) to determine effects of MA use in pregnancy for mothers and their offspring, effective interventions and implications for Indigenous women. SEARCH STRATEGY: A strategic search of Ovid Medline, Embase, ProQuest-Public Health and CINAHL databases identified academic literature, while Google and ProQuest-Public Health identified grey literature. SELECTION CRITERIA: Article selection was based on titles, abstracts and keywords. The time frame captured recent MA composition and excluded literature impacted by coronavirus disease 2019. DATA COLLECTION AND ANALYSIS: Data extracted from 80 articles identified 463 results related to 210 outcomes, and seven interventions. Analysis focused on six categories: maternal, neonatal/infant, cognitive, behavioral, neurological, and interventions. MAIN RESULTS: Maternal outcomes were more congruent than child outcomes. The most prevalent outcomes were general neonatal/infant outcomes. CONCLUSION: A lack of Indigenous-specific research on PME and interventions highlights a need for future research that incorporates relevant historical and sociocultural contexts.

Retrospective Analysis of Clinical Characteristics and Neonatal Outcomes of Pregnant Women with SARS-COV-2 Infection.

This retrospective study aimed to investigate the clinical characteristics and neonatal outcomes of pregnant women with SARS-COV-2 in Wuhan Children's Hospital and further suggested a possible management strategy for infected pregnant women under epidemic situation. In this study, 8 pregnant women with SARS-COV-2 who were admitted into Wuhan Children's Hospital, China from February 1, 2020 to March 30, 2020 and the clinical features, laboratory data, maternal and neonatal outcomes were analyzed. The mean age of the women at the time of admission was 30.6 years. The mean gestational age of the women was 37 weeks+4 days, and one woman presented with dichorionic diamniotic (DCDA) twin pregnancy. Except for one woman who was febrile, others had no typical clinical symptoms. For all pregnant women, the count of white blood cells and lymphocytes appeared normal, but 6 had a lower percentage of lymphocytes. C-reactive protein (CRP) levels were normal for all the women. One neonate was tested positive for the coronavirus IgG and IgM antibodies. The clinical symptoms of the pregnant women with SARS-COV-2 were mild, and the laboratory data showed similar characteristics to those of non-infected pregnant women. Since one neonate was tested positive for coronavirus, there is a possibility of vertical transmission of SARS-CoV-2. Prompt and efficient screening, triage, and isolation of pregnant women are effective management strategies to reduce nosocomial infection during the SARS-COV-2 epidemic.