Mrs Alanna Gillespie1,2, Libby Smith1, Daisy Shepherd3,4, Jessica Xu1,2, Rija Khanal1,2, A/Prof Valerie Sung1,2,4
1Prevention Innovation, Murdoch Children’s Research Institute, Parkville, Australia, 2Centre for Community Child Health, Royal Children’s Hospital, Parkville, Australia, 3Clinical Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Murdoch Children’s Research Institute, Parkville, Australia, 4Department of Paediatrics, The University of Melbourne, Parkville, Australia
Purpose of the presentation: To describe child and parent social, economic and mental health experiences, before and during the COVID-19 pandemic, in deaf and hard of hearing (DHH) children and their parents.
Scope of the topic: Between May and September 2020, 497 of 806 (62%) parents from the Victorian Childhood Hearing Longitudinal Databank (VicCHILD) completed an online survey about their experience of the pandemic. Most children whose parents completed the survey had bilateral sensorineural hearing loss (65%) with a range of severity from mild to profound. We collected survey data about child/parent wellbeing, social and financial circumstances prior to and during the pandemic. We used descriptive statistics to summarise data, and paired t-tests to compare experiences before and during the pandemic.
The issue or problem under consideration: Understanding the impact of COVD-19 public health restrictions on DHH children and their families is important to ensure services are appropriately catered for these families.
Outcomes: Parents of DHH children (mean age 6.5, SD 4.0 years, 43% female) reported their child’s and their own wellbeing worsened during the pandemic (mean emotions/worries score pre- to post-pandemic changed from 0.77 (SD 0.57) to 1.10 (SD 0.77) and 1.06 (SD 0.64) to 1.43 (SD 0.81), respectively). 10-15% of parents reported significant financial problems were created by the pandemic. 43% reported their child had trouble learning from home due to their hearing loss at least some of the time and 81% reported feeling stressed or overwhelmed tending to their child’s home learning while doing paid work or domestic duties at least some of the time.
Conclusions reached: Social and economic changes co-existed with poorer wellbeing during the pandemic. It is important to address the indirect social, economic and mental health impacts of the COVID19 pandemic in planning for government funding supports and services for DHH children.
Biography:
Alanna Gillespie (B Comm/ B Sci (Hons)) is a project manager in the hearing research team at the Murdoch Children’s Research Institute. Her work focusses on congenital CMV and hearing loss and aims to find the best ways to identify those with cCMV early enough to discuss the option of treatment with families. She has also explored how deaf and hard of hearing children and their families experienced the COVID-19 pandemic.
E: alanna.gillespie@mcri.edu.au