"There is a strangeness in this disease": A qualitative study of parents' experiences caring for a child diagnosed with COVID-19.

BACKGROUND

The beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic marked a period of uncertainty as public health guidelines, diagnostic criteria, and testing protocols or procedures have continuously evolved. Despite the virus being declared a worldwide pandemic, little research has been done to understand how parents manage caring for their child diagnosed with COVID-19. We sought to understand parents' experiences and information need when caring for a child diagnosed with COVID-19.

METHODS

A qualitative descriptive study with an inductive and exploratory approach was completed. Participants were recruited through social media and local public health clinics. Data collection and analysis were concurrent. Semi-structured virtual interviews were conducted with 27 participants. Thematic analysis was conducted.

FINDINGS

Four major themes emerged: a) dealing with uncertainty; b) anxiety; c) social stigma and stress; d) a sense of community.

CONCLUSION

Our study highlights that parent experiences were diverse and multi-faceted, and their experiences evolved and shifted over the course of the pandemic. Parents would benefit from clear and consistent evidence-based online information. Understanding the perspectives of parents caring for a child with COVID-19 is an important step in developing future resources tailored to meet their unique experiences and information needs.

Informations de copyright

Copyright: © 2024 Louie-Poon et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.

Déclaration de conflit d'intérêts

The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.