Vulnerability in adolescents' daily life during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Aline Cammarano Ribeiro, Fabiano Ritta Malagues Ianzer, Fernanda Duarte Siqueira and 5 others
PMID 37882696WHAT IT FOUND
Some families grew closer during the pandemic, but adolescents also described job loss, limited internet, lost school and leisure, and violence or self-harm as daily-life vulnerability.
Key findings
01Adolescents described both closer family relationships and less fighting, alongside job loss, moving, parent depression and financial anxiety.
02School difficulties centred on online or printed activities, limited devices or internet, and missing school and peers.
03Some adolescents reported physical violence, self-mutilation and a suicide attempt, and researchers offered support and help seeking psychological treatment.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for OTsWhat it means for RNs
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What it does not show
The study was done in one school in one municipality, so its themes may not represent adolescents in other places or settings. Only adolescents from grades 5 to 8 participated; grade 9 students were invited but did not want to take part. Participants were recruited through teachers in a school where the research team already had a health promotion relationship, which may have influenced who agreed to talk. Data were collected while the school was returning to on-site classes and attendance was optional, so the accounts may reflect a partial return rather than full remote schooling. It is a qualitative study of experiences, so it does not measure how common these problems are or show that any intervention changed them.
The easy way to misread this
Do not read these themes as evidence that any programme reduced vulnerability or that the pandemic's effects are generalisable. The study describes 25 adolescents in one Brazilian school, and some families reported both closeness and conflict.