How is the COVID-19 lockdown impacting the mental health of parents of school-age children in the UK? A cross-sectional online survey

Austen El-Osta; Aos Alaa; Iman Webber; Eva Riboli Sasco; Emmanouil Bagkeris; Helen Millar; Charlotte Vidal-Hall; Azeem Majeed

doi:10.1136/bmjopen-2020-043397

How is the COVID-19 lockdown impacting the mental health of parents of school-age children in the UK? A cross-sectional online survey

BMJ Open. 2021 May 11;11(5):e043397. doi: 10.1136/bmjopen-2020-043397.

Authors

Austen El-Osta¹, Aos Alaa², Iman Webber², Eva Riboli Sasco², Emmanouil Bagkeris³, Helen Millar⁴, Charlotte Vidal-Hall⁵, Azeem Majeed⁶

Affiliations

¹ Self-Care Academic Research Unit (SCARU), Department of Primary Care and Public Health, Imperial College London Faculty of Medicine, London, UK a.el-osta@imperial.ac.uk.
² Self-Care Academic Research Unit (SCARU), Department of Primary Care and Public Health, Imperial College London Faculty of Medicine, London, UK.
³ National Heart and Lung Institute, Imperial College London, London, UK.
⁴ NHS Fife Mental Health Directorate, Fife Health & Social Care Partnership, Fife, Scotland, UK.
⁵ Brackenbury Primary School, London, UK.
⁶ Department of Primary Care and Public Health, Imperial College London Faculty of Medicine, London, UK.

Abstract

Objective: Investigate the impact of the COVID-19 lockdown on feelings of loneliness and social isolation in parents of school-age children.

Design: Cross-sectional online survey of parents of primary and secondary school-age children.

Setting: Community setting.

Participants: 1214 parents of school-age children in the UK.

Methods: An online survey explored the impact of lockdown on the mental health of parents with school-age children, and in particular about feelings of social isolation and loneliness. Associations between the UCLA Three-Item Loneliness Scale (UCLATILS), the Direct Measure of Loneliness (DMOL) and the characteristics of the study participants were assessed using ordinal logistic regression models.

Main outcome measures: Self-reported measures of social isolation and loneliness using UCLATILS and DMOL.

Results: Half of respondents felt they lacked companionship, 45% had feelings of being left out, 58% felt isolated and 46% felt lonely during the first 100 days of lockdown. The factors that were associated with higher levels of loneliness on UCLATILS were female gender, parenting a child with special needs, lack of a dedicated space for distance learning, disruption of sleep patterns and low levels of physical activity during the lockdown. Factors associated with a higher DMOL were female gender, single parenting, parenting a child with special needs, unemployment, low physical activity, lack of a dedicated study space and disruption of sleep patterns during the lockdown.

Conclusions: The COVID-19 lockdown has increased feelings of social isolation and loneliness among parents of school-age children. The sustained adoption of two modifiable health-seeking lifestyle behaviours (increased levels of physical activity and the maintenance of good sleep hygiene practices) wmay help reduce feelings of social isolation and loneliness during lockdown.

Keywords: epidemiology; mental health; public health.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

COVID-19*
Child
Communicable Disease Control
Cross-Sectional Studies
Female
Humans
Loneliness
Male
Mental Health*
Parents
SARS-CoV-2
Schools
United Kingdom