Differential impact of stay-at-home orders on mental health in adults who are homeschooling or "childless at home" in time of COVID-19

Home-schooling and caring for children during the COVID-19 lockdown in the UK: emotional states, systems of support and coping strategies in working mothers

Introduction

We examined the experience of the intensification of home-schooling and/or childcare in working mothers in the United Kingdom during the first national COVID-19 lockdown. Our focus was on understanding how mothers dealt with this challenging period both emotionally and practically.

Methods

Eligible mothers (n = 47; Mage  =  39.6) participated in an anonymous online survey of openended questions.

Results

Thematic analysis of responses showed that mothers found home-schooling and/or childcare to be challenging. This was particularly notable in situations where support from partners, schools, and workplaces was limited. For single working mothers, the absence of support resources was especially impactful. Mothers often felt overly stressed trying to balance work and family responsibilities, guilty for not meeting their child's needs, and were worried over their child's well-being and academic progress and over increasing work demands. Common strategies mothers used to cope with the challenges of home-schooling and/or childcare included adopting a positive outlook, implementing flexible family structures, increasing family connectedness, and negotiating alternative partnership models.

Discussion

The intensification of home-schooling and/or childcare during the lockdown in the United Kingdom negatively affected maternal well-being, particularly due to limited support. These findings underscore the importance of prioritizing maternal wellbeing in post-pandemic recovery efforts. Additionally, they highlight the social dimension of maternal wellbeing and suggest a comprehensive approach to support it that includes both timely access to intervention for mental health but also implementing family-friendly work policies and offering support with childcare and children's learning as essential measures.

Hope and Resilience Related to Fear of COVID-19 in Young People

In the face of the psychological crisis of fear caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, it is relevant to know the positive impact of hope and resilience during this context. The purpose of this study was to determine the correlation between hope and resilience with fear of COVID-19 in young people. The design was non-experimental, cross-sectional, and correlational. The sample consisted of 192 young people living in Metropolitan Lima, Peru. We used the Hope-Despair Questionnaire, the Resilience Scale, and the COVID-19 Fear Questionnaire. The results show that there is a significant correlation between hope, resilience, and fear of COVID-19 in young people. On the other hand, a significant difference was found in resilience according to gender. Likewise, it was found that the variables hope and resilience explain 81% (R2 adjusted) of the fear of COVID-19 (F test = 21.53; p < 0.01). Hope and resilience are protective factors that have a positive impact when facing the fear of COVID-19. Thus, policies, programs, and public health strategies related to positive mental health should be promoted, with emphasis on hope and resilience.