Abstract
Italy was the first European country to fight the Covid-19 outbreak. To limit the transmission of the virus, the Italian Government imposed strict domestic quarantine policies and temporary closure of non-essential businesses and schools from March 10th,2020. Although more and more literature is exploring the impact of the pandemic on non-referred children and families, only a few studies are focused on the psychosocial impact of Covid-19 in chronically ill children and their caregivers. The present study investigates asthma control and children and mothers’ psychological functioning (i.e.: psychological well-being, fear of contagion, and mothers’ Covid-19 related fears) in 45 asthmatic children aged 7-to-14, compared to a control sample. The subjects were administered an online survey after the lockdown (from 28th May to 23rd August 2020). The analysis shows that asthmatic children presented higher concern in relation to contagion, however, no difference in psychological functioning was displayed between the two cohorts. Mothers reported more Covid-19 related fears, and greater worries according to the resumption of their children’s activities. Moreover, they indicated a global worsening of their psychological well-being during the lockdown. Furthermore, regarding the clinical sample, the multivariate regression model showed that a worsening of mothers' psychological and children’s physical well-being was associated with a worsening of children’s psychological well-being during the lockdown. The results of this study indicate that mothers of asthmatic children can be more prone to experience psychological fatigue in a pandemic scenario. Special programs should be developed to support caregivers of chronically ill children.
Highlights
Still debated at the beginning of the pandemic[11,12,13,14]
Considering that asthma exacerbations in childhood are often related to viral infections, asthmatic children and their parents could be more worried about having worse outcomes if contracting COVID-19 and undertreating of eventual SARS-CoV-2 related respiratory s ymptoms[19]
More recent research suggests that the risk of having respiratory attacks is associated with higher separation anxiety symptoms in asthmatic children, which may be amplified in a post lockdown s cenario[20]
Summary
It seems that there has been a significant decrease in pediatric asthma admissions during the home-confinement[15]. The similarities between asthma and Covid-19 symptoms may represent another reason of concern for asthmatic children’s mothers, considering the gradual reopening of activities in a post lockdown s cenario[16]. More recent research suggests that the risk of having respiratory attacks is associated with higher separation anxiety symptoms in asthmatic children, which may be amplified in a post lockdown s cenario[20]. The general aim of the present paper was to assess the psychological functioning and the Covid-19 related fears in a group of asthmatic children and their mothers in a post lockdown period, to evaluate the effects of home-confinement experiences (Phase 1) in a reopening scenario (Phase 2)
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