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The Impact of COVID-19 on Health Behavior, Stress, Financial and Food Security among Middle to High Income Canadian Families with Young Children

The COVID-19 pandemic has disrupted many aspects of daily life. The purpose of this study was to identify how health behaviors, level of stress, financial and food security have been impacted by the pandemic among Canadian families with young children. Parents (mothers, n = 235 and fathers, n = 126)...

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Autores principales: Carroll, Nicholas, Sadowski, Adam, Laila, Amar, Hruska, Valerie, Nixon, Madeline, Ma, David W.L., Haines, Jess
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: MDPI 2020
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7468859/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/32784530
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/nu12082352
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author Carroll, Nicholas
Sadowski, Adam
Laila, Amar
Hruska, Valerie
Nixon, Madeline
Ma, David W.L.
Haines, Jess
author_facet Carroll, Nicholas
Sadowski, Adam
Laila, Amar
Hruska, Valerie
Nixon, Madeline
Ma, David W.L.
Haines, Jess
author_sort Carroll, Nicholas
collection PubMed
description The COVID-19 pandemic has disrupted many aspects of daily life. The purpose of this study was to identify how health behaviors, level of stress, financial and food security have been impacted by the pandemic among Canadian families with young children. Parents (mothers, n = 235 and fathers, n = 126) from 254 families participating in an ongoing study completed an online survey that included close and open-ended questions. Descriptive statistics were used to summarize the quantitative data and qualitative responses were analyzed using thematic analysis. More than half of our sample reported that their eating and meal routines have changed since COVID-19; most commonly reported changes were eating more snack foods and spending more time cooking. Screen time increased among 74% of mothers, 61% of fathers, and 87% of children and physical activity decreased among 59% of mothers, 52% of fathers, and 52% of children. Key factors influencing family stress include balancing work with childcare/homeschooling and financial instability. While some unhealthful behaviors appeared to have been exacerbated, other more healthful behaviors also emerged since COVID-19. Research is needed to determine the longer-term impact of the pandemic on behaviors and to identify effective strategies to support families in the post-COVID-19 context.
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spelling pubmed-74688592020-09-04 The Impact of COVID-19 on Health Behavior, Stress, Financial and Food Security among Middle to High Income Canadian Families with Young Children Carroll, Nicholas Sadowski, Adam Laila, Amar Hruska, Valerie Nixon, Madeline Ma, David W.L. Haines, Jess Nutrients Article The COVID-19 pandemic has disrupted many aspects of daily life. The purpose of this study was to identify how health behaviors, level of stress, financial and food security have been impacted by the pandemic among Canadian families with young children. Parents (mothers, n = 235 and fathers, n = 126) from 254 families participating in an ongoing study completed an online survey that included close and open-ended questions. Descriptive statistics were used to summarize the quantitative data and qualitative responses were analyzed using thematic analysis. More than half of our sample reported that their eating and meal routines have changed since COVID-19; most commonly reported changes were eating more snack foods and spending more time cooking. Screen time increased among 74% of mothers, 61% of fathers, and 87% of children and physical activity decreased among 59% of mothers, 52% of fathers, and 52% of children. Key factors influencing family stress include balancing work with childcare/homeschooling and financial instability. While some unhealthful behaviors appeared to have been exacerbated, other more healthful behaviors also emerged since COVID-19. Research is needed to determine the longer-term impact of the pandemic on behaviors and to identify effective strategies to support families in the post-COVID-19 context. MDPI 2020-08-07 /pmc/articles/PMC7468859/ /pubmed/32784530 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/nu12082352 Text en © 2020 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
spellingShingle Article
Carroll, Nicholas
Sadowski, Adam
Laila, Amar
Hruska, Valerie
Nixon, Madeline
Ma, David W.L.
Haines, Jess
The Impact of COVID-19 on Health Behavior, Stress, Financial and Food Security among Middle to High Income Canadian Families with Young Children
title The Impact of COVID-19 on Health Behavior, Stress, Financial and Food Security among Middle to High Income Canadian Families with Young Children
title_full The Impact of COVID-19 on Health Behavior, Stress, Financial and Food Security among Middle to High Income Canadian Families with Young Children
title_fullStr The Impact of COVID-19 on Health Behavior, Stress, Financial and Food Security among Middle to High Income Canadian Families with Young Children
title_full_unstemmed The Impact of COVID-19 on Health Behavior, Stress, Financial and Food Security among Middle to High Income Canadian Families with Young Children
title_short The Impact of COVID-19 on Health Behavior, Stress, Financial and Food Security among Middle to High Income Canadian Families with Young Children
title_sort impact of covid-19 on health behavior, stress, financial and food security among middle to high income canadian families with young children
topic Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7468859/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/32784530
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/nu12082352
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