Interventions to build resilience and to ameliorate negative psychosocial effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on children and adolescents: a systematic review and meta-analysis
- Open Access
- 13.08.2023
- Review
Abstract
Introduction
Methods
Inclusion and exclusion criteria
Information sources and search strategy
Selection process
Data extraction process
Risk of bias assessment
Synthesis method
Effect measures
Reporting bias assessment
Results
Characteristics of included studies
First author | Year | References | Country | Study design | n | Population age* mean (SD), range in years | Main intervention | Overall risk of bias |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Altuntas | 2022 | [49] | Turkey | RCT | 38 | 12.95 (0.65) | Callisthenic exercise | High |
Chen | 2021 | [42] | China | RCT | 72 | 14.4 (1.0) 13–16 | Mindfulness meditation and aerobic exercises | High |
Ding | 2020 | [43] | China | RCT | 141 | 15.2 (2.1) 15.3 (2.4) 12–18 | Health education, empowering for peer support, physical exercises | High |
Karadag | 2021 | [44] | Turkey | RCT | 178 | 9.07 (0.8) | Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) derived self-help | High |
Malboeuf- Hurtubise (art) | 2021 | [45] | Canada | cRCT | 22 | 11.3 (4th and 5th grade) | Emotion-based directed drawing | High |
Malboeuf- Hurtubise (philosophy) | 2021 | [50] | Canada | cRCT | 37 | 8.18 (1st–5th grade) | Philosophy training | High |
Pavarini | 2021 | [53] | UK | RCT | 100 | 16.39 16–18 | Peer support training | High |
Schleider | 2022 | [46] | US | RCT (3 arms) | 2452 | 13–16 | Single session interventions (a) Behavioral activation (b) Mindset growth | High |
Shao | 2021 | [51] | China | RCT | 62 | 15.67 (1.01) 15.98 (0.11) | Group psychological intervention, dancing | High |
Tymofiyeva | 2022 | [54] | US | RCT | 21 | 16.0 (1.0) 15.7 (1.4) 14–18 | Training for awareness, resilience and action (informed by mindfulness, yoga, psychotherapeutic approaches) | High |
Xu | 2021 | [52] | China | RCT | 84 | 12–19 | Acceptance and commitment therapy and aerobic exercise | High |
Zhang | 2021 | [47] | China | RCT | 153 | 15.7 (2.05) 15.9 (1.07) 12–18 | Psychological counseling and outdoor exercise | High |
Zheng | 2021 | [48] | China | RCT | 954 | 13.5 (0.5) 12–13 | Peer-to-peer livestreaming app, health education, workout videos | Some concerns |
First author | Intervention (short) | Description of intervention | IASC code | Duration/frequency | Control interventions | Mode of delivery (IG) | Outcomes* | Tools and results (IG;CG) (Mean, SD) | Follow up |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Altuntas | Callisthenic exercise | Full body exercises, with warm-up and cool-down, provided by physiotherapist | 3 | 45 min 3/week 8 weeks | No intervention | Online group | Anxiety, depression, sleep quality, quality of life | Beck Anxiety Scale: not reported in mean, SD Reynolds Adolescent Depression Scale: 50.26 (9.18); 53.63 (12.29) Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI): 2.84 (1.5); 4.16 (2.41) Pediatric Quality of Life Inventory (PedsQL) psychosocial: 1251.31 (196.7); 1207.9 (119.6) | 8 weeks |
Chen | Mindfulness meditation and aerobic exercises | Lectures and exercises for mindfulness meditation. Group meditation followed by exchange of experiences and feelings. Aerobic exercises (medium intensity) under guidance of coach | 3,5,8 | 30 min 5/week 5 weeks | Health education on pandemic | Online group | Anxiety, positive and negative affect, wellbeing | Self-rating Anxiety Scale (SAS): 50.8 (9.3); 57.1 (8.9) Positive Affect Scale (PANAS): 32.7 (6.1); 29.2 (8.1) Negative Affect Scale (PANAS): 19.5 (4.2); 22.3 (6.3) Psychological Well-Being Scale (PWBS): 9.5 (1.9); 8.3 (2.7) | 10 weeks |
Ding | Health education, empowering for peer support, physical exercises | Health knowledge and behaviors through group discussion, role-playing, games. Task to educate their peers by organizing weekly peer-education seminars. Aerobic exercise of moderate intensity with sports watch | 3,5 | 10 min 2/day 3/week 8 weeks | Health education on lifestyle, mental health and pandemic | Online group + self-guided | Anxiety, depression, sleep quality | SAS: 55 (10.49); 60.37 (9.65) Self-rating Depression Scale (SDS): 53.83 (9.52); 58.51 (9.63) PSQI: 5.63 (2.65); 7.37 (3.14) | 8 weeks |
Karadag | EMDR derived self-help | Booklet containing EMDR-derived techniques to be guided by parents | 1,8 | 20 min 3/week 1 week | Waitlist | Digital material, parent guided | Anxiety, specific stress symptoms | State-Trait Anxiety Inventory for Children (STAIC): 28.5 (8.3); 29 (9.9) Childhood Posttraumatic Stress Reaction Index (CPTS-RI): not reported in mean, SD | 4 weeks |
Malboeuf- Hurtubise (art) | Emotion-based directed drawing | Drawing activities targeted towards exploring emotions (fear, worry, irritation) and feelings, followed by opportunity to share thoughts, feelings, reactions and discuss COVID-19. Guided by psychology students | 3,5,8 | 45 min 1/week 5 weeks | Mandala drawing | Online group | Anxiety, depression, hyperactivity, inattention, mindfulness | Selected items from the Behavior Assessment Scale for Children-3rd edition (BASC III): anxiety: 3.5 (1.7); 2.87 (0.83) depression: 2.07 (1.49); 2.62 (1.5) hyperactivity: 1.78 (1.57); 2.0 (1.3) inattention: 1.23 (1.23); 2.12 (1.24) mindfulness: 2.04 (0.85); 2.3 (0.77) | 6 weeks |
Malboeuf- Hurtubise (philosophy) | Philosophy training | Topics covered: school and education, sadness and fear, personal freedom and rules, being old, death. Short video clips were used as primers. Led by psychology students | 5, 7/8 | 60 min 1/week 1 week | Mindfulness-based intervention | Online group | Basic psychological needs satisfaction, mental health difficulties | Self-constructed items: 9.38 (2.18); 11.64 (2.57) Selected items from BASC III (anxiety/inattention): 3.87 (2.04); 5.0 (2.41) | 6 weeks |
Pavarini | Peer support training | Modules on establishing rapport, active listening, grief and trauma, confidentiality, self-care, coping strategies, crisis management, signposting and referrals and making a difference to the community | 2,3 | 4 h 5/week 1 week | Waitlist | Online group | Emotional symptoms, mental wellbeing | Warwick–Edinburgh Mental Wellbeing Scale (WEMWBS): 55.56 (6.30); 45.04 (9.28) Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire-Emotional symptoms subscale (SDQ-E): 2.84 (2.50); 4.36 (3.06) | 1 week |
Schleider | Single session interventions (SSI) Behavioural activation (BA) Growth mindset (GM) | BA: psychoeducation on depression, life values assessment, creation of activity action plan, writing exercise GM: introduction to the brain, testimonials and stories from older youths, information on personality change, writing exercise | 8 | 20–30 min (once) | Supportive Therapy SSI: encourage participants to express emotions, no specific skills | Self-guided | Anxiety, Covid-19 related trauma symptoms, depression, hopelessness, perceived agency | Generalized Anxiety Disorder 7 (GAD-7): GM:2.68 (0.81); BA:2.73 (0.82); CG: 2.78 (0.79) Child Trauma Screen—Reaction Scale (CTS-RS): GM. 2.76 (0.66); BA: 2.73 (0.64); CG:2.83 (0.63) Children’s Depression Inventory (CDI): GM:11.58 (5.08); BA:11.47 (5.04); CG: 12.57 (4.97) Beck Hopelessness Scale-4 (BHS-4): GM:1.39 (0.83); BA:1.37 (0.8); CG: 1.51 (0.82) State Hope Scale (SHS): GM: 5.17 (1.65); BA: 5.06 (1.63); CG: 4.89 (1.64) | 3 months |
Shao | Group psychological intervention, dancing | Eight themes to learn about relationships to others and their own needs. Dance therapy included warm-up, using body language and present thoughts, assistance to express subjective experience, relaxing movement, by professional dance teacher | 3,8 | 60 min 1/week 7 weeks | No intervention | In-person group | Anxiety and depression, life satisfaction, resilience | Anxiety and Depression Subscale of Achenbach Youth Self-Report: 1.55 (0.33); 2.99 (0.20) Healthy Kids Resilience Assessment: 4.02 (0.15); 2.48 (0.27) Satisfaction Scale: 5.46 (0.45); 2.93 (0.38) | 8 weeks |
Tymofiyeva | Training for awareness, resilience and action (informed by mindfulness, yoga, psychotherapeutic approaches) | Semi-manualized training informed by mindfulness, yoga-based techniques and modern psychotherapeutic approaches to target neurocircuitry involved in emotional hyperreactivity, agitation, dysphoric mood | 8 | 1/week 12 weeks | No information | In-person and online group | Emotional wellbeing | SDQ-E: not reported in mean, SD | 12 weeks# |
Xu | Acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT) and aerobic exercise | Understanding about sudden public health emergencies and emotions, learning to make peace with emotions, accepting themselves incl. merits and demerits, using cognitive defusion, establish correct and active values, fighting for dreams, fulfilling commitments, provided by trained psychology students. Aerobic exercise: jogging, yoga, basketball and others | 8 | Exercise: 40–60 min 3/week 8 weeks, ACT: 40–50 min 1/week 6 weeks | Routine mental health education | Online group | Acceptance and action, wellbeing | Acceptance and Action Questionnaire 2nd Ed (AAQ-II) WEMWBS reported results contradictory, therefore not shown | 8 weeks# |
Zhang | Psychological counseling and outdoor exercise | Psychological training targeted at improving resilience. Including self-evaluation, exploring positive emotions, perceiving gratitude, cultivating positive and rational cognitive ways, strengthening psychological resilience, problem solving, helping, mutual trust etc Outdoor exercise: badminton, basketball, cross-country race, aerobics, etc | 3,5,8 | Counseling: 60 min 1/week 8 weeks Exercise: 50 min 2/week 8 weeks | Education on pandemic | In-person group | Anxiety, depression, resilience, sleep quality | SAS: 56.83 (10.96); 60.81 (9.51) SDS: 54.91 (9); 60.01 (8.87) Healthy Kids Resilience Assessment: 100.05 (7.88); 91.09 (9.57) PSQI: 6.21 (3.86); 7.64 (4.01) | 8 weeks# |
Zheng | Peer-to-peer live streaming app, SMS prompts, health education, workout videos | Capture short videos and photographs related to physical exercise or eye relaxation activities and share via live streaming or posting | 3,5 | 4 × 15 min/ day 2 weeks | Health education, SMS prompts, workout videos | Online group | Anxiety, sleep quality | Spence Children's Anxiety Scale (SCAS): 3.49 (0.34); 3.79 (0.39) Pediatric sleep disturbance questionnaire: 2.57 (0.11); 2.55 (0.11) | 2 weeks |