Comparing parental distress and children's difficulties between parents of children with rheumatic diseases and parents of healthy children in families facing the COVID-19 pandemic

Sonia M Bramanti; Valerio Manippa; Alessandra Babore; Anna Dilillo; Alessia Marcellino; Vanessa Martucci; Saverio Mallardo; Sara Isoldi; Silvia Bloise; Mariateresa Sanseviero; Donatella Iorfida; Enrica De Luca; Carmen Trumello; Francesca D'Alleva; Flavia Ventriglia; Riccardo Lubrano; Emanuela Del Giudice

doi:10.1007/s12144-022-03589-8

Comparing parental distress and children's difficulties between parents of children with rheumatic diseases and parents of healthy children in families facing the COVID-19 pandemic

Curr Psychol. 2022 Aug 6:1-10. doi: 10.1007/s12144-022-03589-8. Online ahead of print.

Authors

Sonia M Bramanti¹, Valerio Manippa^{1

2}, Alessandra Babore¹, Anna Dilillo³, Alessia Marcellino³, Vanessa Martucci³, Saverio Mallardo³, Sara Isoldi³, Silvia Bloise³, Mariateresa Sanseviero³, Donatella Iorfida³, Enrica De Luca³, Carmen Trumello¹, Francesca D'Alleva¹, Flavia Ventriglia³, Riccardo Lubrano³, Emanuela Del Giudice³

Affiliations

¹ Department of Psychological, Health and Territorial Sciences, University "G. d'Annunzio" of Chieti-Pescara, Via dei Vestini, 31, 66100 Chieti, Italy.
² Department of Education, Psychology and Communication, University of Bari Aldo Moro, Bari, Italy.
³ Pediatric and Neonatology Unit, Maternal and Child Department, Sapienza University of Rome, Polo Pontino, Latina, Italy.

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic could be a threat for the health status of children with a chronic condition. The present study aimed to explore parents' and children's psychological adjustment during the current pandemic, pursuing a triple objective: to compare the psychological adjustment of parents of children with pediatric rheumatic diseases (PRDs) and parents of healthy children; to analyze children's psychological symptoms (emotional problems and hyperactivity) before and during the COVID-19 pandemic, and with or without a PRDs diagnosis; to explore the associations of children's emotional problems and hyperactivity with parents' psychological adjustment, parent-child interactions and belonging or not to families with PRDs. This cross-sectional study involved 56 parents of children with PRDs and 53 parents of healthy children. Self-report questionnaires about parents' depression, anxiety, parenting stress, and children's emotional symptoms and hyperactivity-inattention were administered. No differences were detected on psychological adjustment between parents of children with PRDs and parents of healthy children. Parents of children with PRDs reported statistically significant higher levels of children's emotional problems and hyperactivity before the pandemic, compared to parents of healthy children; during COVID-19 pandemic, emotional symptoms increased for both groups, while hyperactivity-inattention symptoms increased only in the group of healthy children. Children's emotional difficulties were associated with higher levels of parental anxiety, worse parent-child interaction and having PRDs; children's hyperactivity symptoms were related to parent-child difficult interaction and higher levels of parental depression. Findings suggest the importance to target the children in relation to their parents, when approaching the psychological aspects of PRDs.

Keywords: COVID-19; Chronic and recurrent pain; Hyperactivity and ADHD; Parent psychosocial functioning; Rheumatology; School-age children.