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Rojas NK, Martin S, Cortina-Borja M, Shafran R, Fox-Smith L, Stephenson T, Ching BCF, d'Oelsnitz A, Norris T, Xu Y, McOwat K, Dalrymple E, Heyman I, Ford T, Chalder T, Simmons R, CLoCk Consortium , Pinto Pereira SM
Health and Experiences During the COVID-19 Pandemic Among Children and Young People: Analysis of Free-Text Responses From the Children and Young People With Long COVID Study
Health and Experiences during the COVID-19 pandemic amongst Children and Young People: An analysis of free text responses from the CLoCk study
Natalia Katerina Rojas;
Sam Martin;
Mario Cortina-Borja;
Roz Shafran;
Lana Fox-Smith;
Terence Stephenson;
Brian C. F. Ching;
Anaïs d'Oelsnitz;
Tom Norris;
Yue Xu;
Kelsey McOwat;
Emma Dalrymple;
Isobel Heyman;
Tamsin Ford;
Trudie Chalder;
Ruth Simmons;
CLoCk Consortium;
Snehal M Pinto Pereira
ABSTRACT
Background:
Literature is equivocal as to whether the predicted mental health ‘tsunami’ as consequence of the COVID-19 pandemic came to fruition. Some quantitative studies report increased loneliness, emotional problems, and depression. Others report improved mental health and wellbeing including sleep hygiene and fewer externalising and internalising problems. Qualitative explorations reveal heterogeneity with themes ranging from feelings of loss to growth and development.
Objective:
Analyse free text responses from children and young people (CYP) participating in the CLoCk study to get a clearer understanding of how young people were feeling during the pandemic.
Methods:
8,224 free text responses from CYP participating in the CLoCk study were analysed using InfraNodus to determine the most influential topics. A random subsample of 411 responses underwent a manual sentiment analysis which was then reweighted to the general population of CYP in England.
Results:
Experiences fell into six main topical clusters related to School and Exam Stress, Wellbeing (Mental Health; Emotional Impact of Pandemic), Social and Family Support, and Physical health (including COVID symptoms). There was substantial overlap between the topical clusters, for example, Exam Stress and School could be collapsed into one. Sentiment analysis showed the majority of statements were largely negative (76.40%) with a small proportion (13.87%) classed as positive. Those with negative sentiment were mostly female; those with positive sentiment were mostly older. Reweighting to the general population of CYP in England had little impact on findings.
Conclusions:
The study used an innovative AI methodology to analyse free text responses of a large sample of CYP during the pandemic. The majority of young people’s responses were negative in nature, and many reported experiencing distress across a range of domains relating to school, social situations and mental health. This analysis adds to the literature highlighting the importance of specific considerations for young people when responding to national emergencies.
Citation
Please cite as:
Rojas NK, Martin S, Cortina-Borja M, Shafran R, Fox-Smith L, Stephenson T, Ching BCF, d'Oelsnitz A, Norris T, Xu Y, McOwat K, Dalrymple E, Heyman I, Ford T, Chalder T, Simmons R, CLoCk Consortium , Pinto Pereira SM
Health and Experiences During the COVID-19 Pandemic Among Children and Young People: Analysis of Free-Text Responses From the Children and Young People With Long COVID Study