FOOD PATTERNS AND EATING HABITS AMONG CHILDREN DURING THE PANDEMIC: A PARENT’S PERSPECTIVE

Dr Vaishali Patil Et Al

doi:10.17762/pae.v57i9.4578

Abstract

The current pandemic of the novel COVID-19 lead to the nationwide lockdown for a relatively long period. The lockdown has led to changes among every individual at different level. Although children are less severely infected with mild infectious, they are still at risk. One of the major strategies for prevention of the spread of the disease was the ‘nationwide lockdown’ which was adopted by Government. One of the outcomes of the lockdown was disrupted schedules of many individuals. It also leads to irregularity and hindrance for ‘food access’ toindividuals which further affect the overall household. One such subgroup which have been affected are the children.With changes in their lifestyle and timetable there is indeed a change in their eating habits and food consumption. In-depth interviews were conducted with 9 parents in Pune and Mumbai city. They described their experiences of children ranging 2 years up to 18 years. There were five major themes which emerged from the study: effect of pandemic on daily lifestyle, dietary changes at household level, eating patterns and food practices among children and lastly activities of children. In this paper viewpoints and experiences of parents on their children’s food eating habits and practices during COVID-19 pandemic are presented.

Highlights

1.1 BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY India is experiencing a phenomenon which includes the current epidemiologic transition leading to Non-communicable diseases (NCDs), the environmental transition which leads to communicable diseases and the current burden of diseases and this collective phenomenon is known as triple burden of diseases which includes communicable, noncommunicable, emerging and re-emerging infectious diseases
Schools and colleges till today have not been completely functionalwhich has affected the education calendar of all the students.In this study some www.psychologyandeducation.net of the notable observations were, that many parents refrained from sending their children to school, many of the parents work from home and some had moved to their native places during the early phase of the lockdown
COVID-19 preventive measures like home quarantines, self-isolation and community lock down leads to risk factors leading to less physical activity, improper diets (Ambati & Sucharitha, 2020)

Summary

Introduction

BACKGROUND OF THE STUDYIndia is experiencing a phenomenon which includes the current epidemiologic transition leading to NCDs, the environmental transition which leads to communicable diseases and the current burden of diseases and this collective phenomenon is known as triple burden of diseases which includes communicable, noncommunicable, emerging and re-emerging infectious diseases. There is a twin epidemic of continuing/ emerging infectious diseases along with degenerative diseases. This condition of the country is a ‘dilapidated' state with major public health problems like under nutrition, malaria, tuberculosis, high maternal, child mortality, safe drinking water and sanitation and one of the most important pandemic issues. The major hotspots states were Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Delhi, Gujarat, and Rajasthan, respectively. Data suggests more than 33% of the total COVID19 cases were documented in Maharashtra, followed by 11% in Tamil Nadu, 9% in Delhi, 8% in Gujarat, and 4% in Rajasthan. More than 60% of the total COVID-19 cases were recorded from these five states in India. Maharashtra has reported the highest number COVID19 cases

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