Children’s mental health and the COVID-19 pandemic

INTRODUCTION: In the midst of a global pandemic with a rising death toll, the children´s mental health can be easily overlooked in the country’s response. But this overlook would have devastating consequences for years to come. OBJECTIVES: The objective of this research is to compare children’s physical and mental development before, during and after the situation of social isolation caused by the pandemic of COVID-19. METHODS: The parents/guardians of 100 children aged between 0 and 5 years and 11 months old were asked to answer questions based on the ASQ-3 (Ages and Stages Questionnaire III), containing questions related to Communication, Gross Motor, Fine Motor, Problem Solving, and Personal-Social and ASQ- SE (Ages and Stages Questionnaires Social-Emotional) addressing issues of self-regulation, compliance, social-communication, adaptive functioning, autonomy, and affect. In addition, behavioral issues related to children’s mental health will be included, such as: aggressiveness, insomnia, lack of appetite, apathy, sadness, tiredness, lack of interest, hyperactivity, manias, tantrum, morning among others. Child development data will be collected before and during quarantine / isolation and later, in a second stage, after the end of social isolation. RESULTS: The data will be analyzed in order to characterize child behavior before, during and after the period of social isolation, correlating the different areas of child development, especially mental health. CONCLUSIONS: As argued, socially isolated children are at increased risk of health problems in adulthood. Furthermore, studies on social isolation have demonstrated that a lack of social relationships negatively impacts the development of the brain’s structure. DISCLOSURE: No significant relationships.