New approaches to research on the short- and long-term impacts of COVID-19 on children's well-being |
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The COVID-19 pandemic poses real challenges to the aim of closing equity and achievement gaps and ensuring continuous improvement of the health, development, and well-being of all children. Approaching COVID-19 through a life course lens reminds us that there will be both short- and long-term effects, and that interactions between changed individual health attributes and changed family and environmental circumstances will continue to reverberate over time ( Settersten et al. 2020). The LCHD model ( Halfon 2014) reminds us that health is a developmental process, which is particularly susceptible to both positive and negative exposures and experiences during sensitive periods of health development.
In 2020 LCIRN members met together with other maternal and child health researchers and stakeholders to develop a research agenda to better understand the short- and long-term impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on children’s healthy development.
We are excited that the results of this effort have recently been published in a summary article in Maternal and Child Health Journal and a full report is available on our website. Participants identified key research questions at the individual, family, community, schools, and systems levels, focused especially on the less-studied secondary impacts of the pandemic including children’s development and mental health. |
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Just as important as what we research, is how we do the research. Recommendations for enacting the COVID-19 MCH Research Agenda include using participatory research methods, seeking out transformative approaches, activating new funding streams, and strengthening data systems that might better measure child well-being across multiple domains. One conclusion from this highly interactive and iterative process, is that researchers, policy makers, health systems, funders, and research institutions all have a role to play in transforming the research landscape to better serve children and families.
The pandemic of 2019-2020 might ultimately be remembered not just for its serious health impacts and social disruptions but as the catalyst for change. The research agenda points to a need for new approaches to research and practice that can promote health equity, re-fashioning systems of care to support optimal health development trajectories in early life and throughout the life course. Creative uses of new technology, and a willingness to work together in new ways to enact this research agenda, hold promise for novel solutions to both the threats posed by COVID-19 and to long-standing challenges to well-being for all children.
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Black Babies Awareness Month |
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“The first years of life set the foundation for children’s healthy development and school and life success. Early adversity can change the timing of critical periods of brain development and healthy development. Access to basic resources may reduce families’ experiences of chronic stress and also ensure children are getting access to nutritional, psychosocial, and health care needed for healthy development. Unfortunately, systemic racism and interpersonal experiences of discrimination can influence the health and well-being of both children and adults in multiple and complex ways.”
In an accompanying op-ed promoting investments in supporting Black babies and families, Dr. Iruka calls for immediate actions that:
- Protect Black babies and their families from racism, discrimination, and material hardship to ensure babies thrive throughout their life course.
- Promote economic security, health, and access to early care and education opportunities, which are essential to support healthy development and mitigate against racism, discrimination, and bias.
- Preserve Black families and their babies’ cultural identity in the early years as they are essential building blocks, as are reading, writing, and arithmetic.
Dr. Iruka implores us to act now as “we don’t have another 1,000 days to spare. We need… to protect, promote, and preserve the health, wealth, and educational well-being of Black babies.”
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This project is supported by the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) of the US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) under award UA6MC32492, the Life Course Intervention Research Network. The information, content, and/or conclusions are those of the author and should not be construed as the official position of, nor should any endorsements be inferred by HRSA, HHS, or the US Government. any endorsements be inferred by HRSA, HHS, or the US Government. |
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