A qualitative inquiry of parents’ observations of their children’s mental health needs during the COVID-19 pandemic

ABSTRACT

Given that children and adolescents are at critical periods of development, they may be particularly vulnerable to the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. Using a descriptive phenomenological approach, 71 parents’ observations of their child’s mental health difficulties were explored. Parents sought out treatment because their children were experiencing significant distress. Data used were transcribed from baseline questionnaires and therapy summaries. Data analysis revealed three themes: emotion regulation difficulties, hypervigilance, and despair. The search for strategies and tailored interventions to help mitigate the potential harmful and long-term mental health impacts of the pandemic should be at the forefront of research and clinical practice.

KEYWORDS:

• Youth
• mental health
• COVID-19
• psychopathology
• treatment
• cognitive-behavioral therapy

Acknowledgments

Research reported in this publication was supported by the Greater Houston Community Foundation and the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health & Human Development of the National Institutes of Health under Award Number P50HD103555 for use of the Clinical and Translational and Preclinical-Clinical Core facilities. The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the National Institutes of Health.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Correction Statement

This article has been republished with minor changes. These changes do not impact the academic content of the article.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development [P50HD103555]; Greater Houston Community Foundation.