Impact of the COVID‐19 pandemic on the well‐being of children with neurodevelopmental disabilities and their parents

Masi, Anne; Mendoza Diaz, Antonio; Tully, Lucy; Azim, Syeda Ishra; Woolfenden, Susan; Efron, Daryl; Eapen, Valsamma

AIMS: To examine the impact of COVID‐19 pandemic on child mental health and socio‐emotional and physical well‐being (including sleep, diet, exercise, use of electronic media; care giver perceptions of symptoms of child neurodevelopmental disability [NDD] and comorbidities), and care giver mental health and well‐being, social support and service use. METHODS: An online cross‐sectional self‐report survey was distributed via disability service providers and support groups. Care givers of children aged 2–17 years with a NDD were invited to respond to questions on child symptom severity and well‐being, parent well‐being and service access and satisfaction. RESULTS: Overall, 302 care givers (94.7% female) completed the survey. Average child age was 9.7 years and 66.9% were male. Worsening of any child NDD or comorbid mental health symptom was reported by 64.5% of respondents and 76.9% reported child health and well‐being was impacted by COVID‐19. Children were viewing more television and digital media (81.6%), exercising less (68.0%), experiencing reduced sleep quality (43.6%) and had a poorer diet (32.4%). Almost one fifth (18.8%) of families reported an increase in the dosage of medication administered to their child. Parents reported COVID‐19 had impacted their own well‐being (76.1%). Over half of respondents were not satisfied with services received during COVID‐19 (54.8%) and just 30% reported that telehealth works well for their child. CONCLUSION: Targeted interventions are required to address worsening child neurodevelopmental disability, mental health symptoms and poor diet, sleep and exercise patterns. Improved access to telehealth services is indicated, as is further research on barriers and enablers of effective telehealth services.