ABSTRACT
The present study assessed factors associated with maternal preferences for their children's educational format (i.e., completely in-person, completely online/remote, or hybrid of in-person and online/remote) for return to school during the COVID-19 pandemic and whether these associations differed between full-time employed mothers and mothers who were not employed. Participants were 911 mothers of school-aged children from the United States (full-time employed, n = 650;not employed, n = 261). Recruitment took place online via social media during Summer 2020. Questionnaires on school modality preference, maternal work status, and demographic characteristics were filled out online through Qualtrics. Compared to mothers who were not employed, full-time employed mothers were more likely to endorse a preference for a hybrid in-person and online/remote educational format for their children and less likely to endorse a preference for a completely online/remote educational format for their children. The factor most strongly associated with maternal preferences for their children's educational format for return to school in both groups of mothers was being worried about my child getting COVID-19 and their health being severely impacted (rs's ranged from −56 to −58;p <.01). Regardless of maternal employment status, this factor continued to have the strongest association with a maternal preference for a completely online educational format in the polynomial regression analysis after controlling for relevant demographic variables (Odds Ratios ranged from 3.63 to 37.64;p <.01). These findings highlight that concerns about child health during the COVID-19 pandemic influence maternal preferences for their children's educational format, regardless of maternal employment status.
ABSTRACT
COVID-19 lockdown-imposed restrictions emerged as a risk to children's well-being. However, the extant literature often ignored children's experiences, emotions, struggles, hopes, and expectations. Based on a large sample of Italian students (N = 906; mean age = 9.4 years, 48.8% female), we drew data from a post-lockdown school re-entry program where students completed narrative activities in 2020. These narratives underwent quantitative content analysis according to gender and school level. Overall, children reported mixed feelings about the lockdown; they felt safe at home but also experienced fear and missed their friends, school, and freedom. Screen-time, technology and friendships helped, but children struggled to make sense of the events. Our findings show how children attempted to make sense of the lockdown experience and may provide key information for the development of community coping programs to help children facing crises in the future.
ABSTRACT
OBJECTIVE: School reentry support focusing on providing information to schools and communication between patient/family-hospital-school is defined as a psychosocial standard of care in pediatric oncology (Thompson et al., 2015). This is critical for students with brain tumors (BT) - although it is not yet universally implemented - especially during follow-up, as they are a risk group for late effects. Due to long distances between family-hospitalschool, limited personnel capacities and since 2020 Covid-19 restrictions, an online-event (OE) for teachers from external schools was designed, with the aim of: (1) strengthening cooperation, (2) breaking down barriers and (3) increasing level of knowledge. METHODS: 54 teachers participated in each of two OEs. Content was presented by an interdisciplinary team (clinician, clinical/neuropsychologist, social worker, teacher), followed by time for sharing experience. Two months after event 2, participants were asked to complete an evaluation in an anonymous online survey. Supportive and inhibiting factors for successful school reintegration were included in the survey and statistically analyzed. RESULTS: 54% of 23 respondents (70% teaching > 10 years) felt that their training before the event did not prepare them adequately for a teaching setting with seriously ill children (1-3 points on a 10-point Likert-scale). 92% rated their knowledge greater after the event. All interdisciplinary inputs were rated very useful and practical (79-88%: 8-10 points). 38% felt relieved to got to know contact persons. 33% rated teaching a student with BT as fundamentally challenging and felt more confident after the event. CONCLUSION: The results of this pilot project indicate that an online-information-event can increase knowledge and cooperation. Resulting promoting and inhibiting factors for school reintegration will be incorporated into future concept improvement. The findings further highlight the great importance of ongoing support in the form of a reintegration teacher and interdisciplinary input for schools to appropriately support students with BT.
ABSTRACT
Purpose: Although the COVID-19 pandemic had been impacting K--12 education since spring 2020, educational professionals working in schools faced unique challenges at the beginning of the 2020-2021 school year. This study focused on gaining a deeper understanding of the experiences of school-based speech-language pathologists (SLPs) during the first half of the 2020-2021 school year and comparing these experiences to the previous spring. Method: This study involved a survey of 333 school-based SLPs working across the United States. The results of the survey were analyzed both qualitatively and quantitatively to identify key themes and trends related to communication, service delivery models, changes in job requirements, confidence levels, and personal challenges.