COVID-19 and mental health of primary school children: Comparison of 2019 and 2020.
Colin Gilligan, Natthaphol Sresthaporn, Aisling Mulligan
PMID 35297078WHAT IT FOUND
Primary school children's overall emotional symptom scores showed no clear difference between June 2019 and June 2020.
A few individual items differed slightly, but the authors did not treat these as clear differences.
Key findings
01Mean total score was 15.84 in 2019 and 15.27 in 2020, with no significant difference.
02The 2020 postal survey returned 83 forms, a 35% response rate, compared with an 87% response rate in 2019.
03Anger scores were 1.24 in 2020 versus 1.04 in 2019, boredom scores were 2.05 versus 1.76, and hurt themselves on purpose scores were .12 versus .30, but these differences were not significant after Bonferroni correction.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for OTs
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What it does not show
The 2020 postal survey returned only 83 forms, a 35% response rate, compared with an 87% response rate in the 2019 classroom survey. The authors note vulnerable children or families may not have responded, so the sample may miss those most affected. It studied one mixed gender urban primary school and focused on children in third to sixth class, so it may not apply to other schools, ages or areas. The study compared self reported emotional symptoms in the same school in 2019 and 2020; it did not test whether the pandemic caused any change. The authors say the full impact of the pandemic may occur later, when economic and social effects become clearer.
The easy way to misread this
Do not conclude that school closures caused no harm to children's mental health. The study found no clear change in total scores, but the 2020 postal survey returned only 83 forms, a 35% response rate, and the authors note vulnerable children may not have responded.