Difficulties in Managing Children’s Learning among Caregivers of Children with Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder during the COVID-19 Pandemic in Taiwan: Association with Worsened Behavioral and Emotional Symptoms

Abstract

School closures during the COVID-19 pandemic have interfered with children’s learning. The aim of this study was to investigate the difficulties in managing children’s learning at home and attending afterschool learning programs and their related factors among caregivers of children with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) during the COVID-19 pandemic. In total, 252 caregivers of children with ADHD completed a questionnaire collecting difficulties in managing children’s learning, parenting styles, children’s worsened symptoms of ADHD, oppositional defiant disorder (ODD) and emotion, and increased Internet use. Multivariate logistic regression models were used to examine the factors related to caregiver difficulties in managing children’s learning and children’s worsened ADHD, ODD, and emotional symptoms. In total, 85.3% of the caregivers had difficulty in asking their children to learn at home; 28.2% had difficulty in taking children to afterschool learning programs. Children’s worsened anger was significantly associated with higher caregiver difficulty in asking children to learn at home, whereas parental overprotection was significantly associated with lower caregiver difficulty in asking children to learn at home. Worsened hyperactivity and opposition were significantly associated with higher caregiver difficulty in taking children to attend afterschool learning programs. Interventions for enhancing caregivers’ skills to manage children’s learning and children’s behavioral and emotional symptoms should take the related factors found in this study into consideration.

Consequences of the Covid-19 pandemic in children and adolescents with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder - a systematic review

“…In general, changes in behavior were significant when compared to before the pandemic 28 , 31 , 34 , 36 , 37 , 38 , 39 , 40 , 41 , 42 , 44 or, specifically during lockdown period 22 , 23 , 24 , 25 and were related to stress 19 , 42 and school closure. 21 During lockdown, a significant prevalence of stress-related behaviors (i.e.…”

“…Of the 27 articles added in this SR, 19 addressed behavioral issues of children and adolescents with ADHD. 19 , 20 , 21 , 22 , 23 , 24 , 25 , 28 , 31 , 34 , 36 , 37 , 38 , 39 , 40 , 41 , 42 , 43 , 44 A medium level of evidence was reached in 10 papers and the hypothesis of worsening behavior was confirmed. 20 , 25 , 31 , 34 , 36 , 37 , 40 , 41 , 42 , 43 …”

“…While one-third of articles (n: 8/27, 30%) addressed specifically the lockdown period during the COVID-19 pandemic, 18 , 19 , 20 , 21 , 22 , 23 , 24 , 25 the other 70% (n: 19/27) compared the whole pandemic period. 26 , 27 , 28 , 29 , 30 , 31 , 32 , 33 , 34 , 35 , 36 , 37 , 38 , 39 , 40 , 41 , 42 , 43 , 44 Only three papers did not compare before versus during lockdown 25 and before versus during the pandemic. 43 , 44 General information from eligible papers is shown in Table 1.…”

“…Concerning depression/sadness, 3 studies reached the medium quality of evidence, confirming the hypothesis of worsening of these symptoms. 31 , 37 , 40 Depression during the pandemic was addressed by eight articles. 22 , 27 , 28 , 31 , 37 , 38 , 39 , 40 A significant increase in depression was observed in the patients 22 , 28 , 31 , 39 and in the controls.…”

“… 31 , 37 , 40 Depression during the pandemic was addressed by eight articles. 22 , 27 , 28 , 31 , 37 , 38 , 39 , 40 A significant increase in depression was observed in the patients 22 , 28 , 31 , 39 and in the controls. 28 Regarding sadness, it was significantly associated with the COVID-19 pandemic in three studies.…”