‘Tipping the balance' – an evaluation of COVID-19 parenting resources developed and adapted for child protection during global emergency responses

Figures & data

Figure 1 . Covid-19 Parenting tips

Table 1 . Breakdown of responses collected from the online survey

Data source	Open questions pre	Open questions post	Depth Interviews	Total Usable
Open Questions
Paraguay	275	90		302
Malawi		27		26
Nepal		8		8
Ghana		18		16
North Macedonia		38		31
Cameroon		112		110
Global –online source		3		2
In-depth Interviews
International			2	2
United Kingdom			2	2
USA			1	1
South Africa			11	11
Zimbabwe			2	2
Israel			1	1
Sri Lanka			1	1
Pakistan			1	1
India			1	1
TOTAL	275	296	22	517

Table 2 . Thematic breakdown of comments and example quotes from participants for parenting challenged faced

Global theme	Organising themes	Selected quotes
COVID-19 pandemic induced diverse and complex parenting challenges	Keeping them busy and entertained – Innovation lab	‘Finding different activities to avoid boredom during their free time’ (Parent/Male/Paraguay)
	Communication – Prompts and permissions	‘To get through 24 h with a badly mannered child and not to scream or hit her.’ (Parent/Female/Paraguay) ‘I like it a lot and lots of the tips, I do. Other things I knew and had forgotten, so I remembered.’ (Parent/Female/Paraguay)
	Discipline – Order and boundaries	‘Playing a lot with my children and lots of disciplining even when playing and teaching them to be responsible, even when playing’ (Parent/Male/Paraguay)
	Balancing parenting with other responsibilities (including childcare) – 'Juggling roles'	‘When COVID came I started working more from home and that you know that changes things cause I mean when you're home, she's expecting attention so it now means balancing giving her time when she woke up, and usually that will be as scribbling on paper. It was very difficult as a parent. Your child is seeing you at home. But you are working And, you know, you're still expected to be working and you're still expected to have calls but then little girl has no idea what that means, this little girl sees mommy around and wants to access mom's room to be able to play or talk to mom and moms closing the door moms like no you can't come in and she's like, why, you know, so I'd have moments where she's banging on the door saying mommy and crying. And wanting access and me depriving us of that. So it really became difficult like it was difficult at first for me’ (Parent/Female/32/Zimbabwe)
	Teaching/virtual classes- ‘School in a box’	‘So we went into full lockdown from around about the 26th of March. … . So school, became online and it was a matter of actually trying to find a quiet space in the house, for each child to be able to do their work. And set up a little almost classroom in each different room when they couldn't be disturbed during the day’ (Parent/Female/40/South Africa)
	Time – 'The longest day'	‘Paying attention all the time, for what they need of my time, all the time.’ (Parent/Female/Paraguay)
	Mental Health challenges/ Psychological stress- ‘All in the mind’	‘the environment was this sort of very much an unknown environment. We didn't know when it was all going to end. We didn't know what the way out was. There was a lot of background fear the news was not lighthearted. It was ‘my God we're all going to die of COVID’ - so we were in a stressful environment. And so, for us as parents, we both work full time and then suddenly having three children in the house for the entire day was quite stressful’ (Parent/Male/41/UK)
	Safety	‘As I have 4 minors, the challenge was for them to feel safe, responsible with their tasks of school ensuring a habitual time and space to do them … ’(Parent/Female/Paraguay)
	COVID-19 lockdown restrictions	‘I live in a shared space at home and I'm the only one was working. How am I going to do this? How am I going to support everyone and still keep my baby safe and for me, it felt like it was the end of the world and at the peak of my career … .. We can't buy anything I can't and then everyone was talking about it like everyone was talking about. Have you stocked enough food? Have you stocked sanitisers? Have you stocked all those things to protect your home and everything and I have none of those I had not planned for all of those things I myself, what's going to happen now and I'm under budget for all of them because they were not on the list. And it was all of these feelings happening and I was really freaking out. I was very overwhelmed’ (Parent/Female/28/South Africa)

Table 3 . Thematic breakdown of comments and example quotes relating to utility of COVID-19 parenting tips from participants

Global theme	Organising themes	Selected quotes
Parenting tips equipped parents with important information and practices that transfromed their everyday lives	Developing new parenting skills	‘All tips for positive parenting were welcome. In times of crisis, somehow it is easier to get out of control and forget even those good parenting skills that we already have. What was new I certainly tried to change. Many tools calmed the domestic situation.’ (Parent/Female/North Macedonia)
	Impact on behaviour	‘It's like I never knew how to parent. I could easily get disappointed, and charge at my children. As a result, they were failing to express themselves. But now, it is just coming naturally, the smiles and laughter- and a number of people have admired my style of parenting. To me, it has been this idea of not just reading them, but being able to see- one by one, how the tips are making a difference in the life of my family. I really needed these tips.’ (Parent/Female/Malawi)
	Violence reduction	‘No more stress, hitting and spanking my children because of use of the tips. I now enjoy my children and plan activities with them’ (Parent/Female/Cameroon)
	Improved communication	‘The tips have acted like medicine to me as am not shouting or screaming at my children. They now do their work well in the house.’ (Parent/Female/Cameroon)
	Improve wellbeing and reduce mental health burden	‘It is a joy to witness such an amazing weight of stress these tips have removed off my shoulders as I parent. For me, it has been very engaging, and also challenging others, especially young couple friends to follow suit. It is very sustainable and doesn't require such formality to deliver.’ (Parent/Male/Malawi)
	Ticking time	‘I spend a lot of time with them. I listen to them carefully. We discuss anything in a deep and subtle way.’ (Parent/Female/Nepal)
Construction of parenting tips resource facilitated uptake	Accessible	‘Well, I love the visual, just looking at the things that looks really engaging and reports like kind of these clouds, which are inviting to read in a time that's particularly stressful. It looks, positive, the bright colours are kind of easy to follow. I like the look of them’ (Parent/Female/30/Israel)
	Practical	‘ … what I really liked about the tips. Is it had all the different ages. And I like the way that it just sort of focus with a practical methodology way of doing it’ (Parent/Male/41/UK)
Challenges to implementation	Barriers to upake	‘I think there's a lot of advice on what to do with teenagers and older children and not so much for toddlers and they're like the fact that it's just two babies and toddlers there’ (Parent/Female/32/Zimbabwe)
	Barriers to dissemination	‘It was my responsibility to plan this and make sure that the implementation is exactly how it was planned it was a bit tricky for me because something like this. I had undertaken this for the very first thing, so I didn't know how it was going to happen. And because I'm at my home, which is like an hour and a half from where the sessions were conducted and because I can't go there because of the situation outside It was even more difficult because I'm planning everything and then I have to implement and make sure that it's happening properly. I have to supervise that but I'm doing everything from home.' (Facilitator/Female/India)
Creation of an enabling environment facilitated dissemination	Shared vision	‘ … it's because I think everybody who we partnered with had a common vision common purpose. It, it wasn't something that we had to strive for’ (Facilitator/Male/Sri Lanka)
	Wide-scale collaboration	‘I think one positive thing that I appreciated was allowing people to speak into your process to say here could you try this out. And then that feedback is included into the process that I appreciated that.’ (Facilitator/Male/Malawi, Zambia, Zimbabwe)

Figure 2 . Recommendations for further resource development