Mental health & maltreatment risk of children with special educational needs during COVID-19
Date
2022
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Child Abuse & Neglect
Abstract
Background: Children with special educational needs (SEN) are more vulnerable during the
COVID-19 pandemic with risk of poor mental wellbeing and child maltreatment
Objective: To examine the impact of COVID-19 on the mental health of children with SEN and
their maltreatment risk
Participants and Setting: 417 children with SEN studying at special schools and 25,427
children with typical development (TD) studying at mainstream schools completed an online
survey in April 2020 in Hong Kong during school closures due to COVID-19
Method: Emotional/behavioral difficulties, quality of life and parental stress of children with
SEN were compared with typically developed children using mixed effect model. Linear
regression analyses were performed to explore factors associated with child
emotional/behavioural difficulties and parental stress during the pandemic. Chi-square test was
performed to detect the differences in maltreatment risk before and during COVID-19.
Results: Children with SEN had significantly poorer overall quality of life (68.05 vs 80.65, p <
0.01). 23.5% of children had at least one episode of severe physical assault and 1.9%
experienced very severe physical assault during COVID-19. Rates of physical assault increased
significantly (59.8% vs. 71.2% p < 0.001) while children with mental disorders had increased
risk of severe physical assault comparing to those without mental disorders (RR = 1.58, ꭓ
2
=
5.19 p = 0.023).
Conclusion: Children with SEN had poorer mental health than typically developed children
during the COVID-19 pandemic. Maltreatment risk for children with SEN is higher in
comparison to pre-COVID-19 era. Surveillance of child maltreatment, continuity of medical and
rehabilitation care to support children with SEN are essential during a disease pandemic.
Description
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article
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Keywords
child maltreatment, International Resources, Hong Kong, COVID-19, special educational needs, mental health, research
Citation
Tso, W., Chan, K. L., Lee, T., Rao, N., Lee, S. L., Jiang, F., Chan, S., Wong, W., Wong, R., Tung, K., Yam, J. C., Liu, A., Chua, G. T., Rosa Duque, J. S., Lam, A., Yip, K. M., Leung, L. K., Wang, Y., Sun, J., Wang, G., … Ip, P. (2022). Mental health & maltreatment risk of children with special educational needs during COVID-19. Child Abuse & Neglect, 105457. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chiabu.2021.105457