Lessons Learned-The Impact of the Third Wave of the COVID-19 Pandemic on German Waldorf Parents' Support Needs and Their Rating of Children's Health-Related Quality of Life: A Cross-Sectional Online Survey

TY - JOUR

T1 - Lessons Learned-The Impact of the Third Wave of the COVID-19 Pandemic on German Waldorf Parents' Support Needs and Their Rating of Children's Health-Related Quality of Life: A Cross-Sectional Online Survey

AU - Vagedes, Jan

AU - Michael, Karin

AU - Sobh, Mohsen

AU - Islam, Mohammad O A

AU - Kuderer, Silja

AU - Jeske, Christian

AU - Kaman, Anne

AU - Martin, David

AU - Vagedes, Katrin

AU - Erhart, Michael

AU - Ravens-Sieberer, Ulrike

AU - Zdražil, Tomáš

PY - 2023/3/8

Y1 - 2023/3/8

N2 - BACKGROUND: COVID-19-related lockdowns and homeschooling have imposed a substantial burden on school-aged children and parents. Waldorf education is a reform-educational concept. Little is known about the situation of German Waldorf families under pandemic conditions.METHODS: A cross-sectional, online, parent-proxy survey was conducted regarding the third pandemic wave. The primary outcome was parents' support needs, assessed with questions from the German COPSY (COVID-19 and PSYchological Health) study; the secondary outcome was children's HRQoL (KIDSCREEN-10, proxy version).RESULTS: We analyzed questionnaires from 431 parents of 511 Waldorf students aged 7 to 17 years. While 70.8% of Waldorf parents (WPs) reported a general need for support in dealing with their children, 59.9% of COPSY parents (CPs) indicated this need. WPs' support needs in dealing with their children's academic demands were similar to CPs' needs but relatively higher in terms of dealing with emotions and moods, behavior, and relationships within the family. WPs sought support mainly from school and teachers (65.6%). Support needs were high, although WPs rated their children's HRQoL higher than CPs.CONCLUSIONS: Our results underline the substantial pandemic-related burden on families across school types. WPs participating in this survey gave evidence that supports should focus on academic demands as well as psychosocial issues.

AB - BACKGROUND: COVID-19-related lockdowns and homeschooling have imposed a substantial burden on school-aged children and parents. Waldorf education is a reform-educational concept. Little is known about the situation of German Waldorf families under pandemic conditions.METHODS: A cross-sectional, online, parent-proxy survey was conducted regarding the third pandemic wave. The primary outcome was parents' support needs, assessed with questions from the German COPSY (COVID-19 and PSYchological Health) study; the secondary outcome was children's HRQoL (KIDSCREEN-10, proxy version).RESULTS: We analyzed questionnaires from 431 parents of 511 Waldorf students aged 7 to 17 years. While 70.8% of Waldorf parents (WPs) reported a general need for support in dealing with their children, 59.9% of COPSY parents (CPs) indicated this need. WPs' support needs in dealing with their children's academic demands were similar to CPs' needs but relatively higher in terms of dealing with emotions and moods, behavior, and relationships within the family. WPs sought support mainly from school and teachers (65.6%). Support needs were high, although WPs rated their children's HRQoL higher than CPs.CONCLUSIONS: Our results underline the substantial pandemic-related burden on families across school types. WPs participating in this survey gave evidence that supports should focus on academic demands as well as psychosocial issues.

KW - Humans

KW - Child

KW - COVID-19/epidemiology

KW - Quality of Life/psychology

KW - Pandemics

KW - Cross-Sectional Studies

KW - Communicable Disease Control

U2 - 10.3390/ijerph20064756

DO - 10.3390/ijerph20064756

M3 - SCORING: Journal article

C2 - 36981668

VL - 20

JO - INT J ENV RES PUB HE

JF - INT J ENV RES PUB HE

SN - 1660-4601

IS - 6

M1 - 4756

ER -