Repercussions of the pandemic on child development and the actions of visitors to the Happy Kids Program ^a

Abstract

Objective

to apprehend the repercussions of the COVID-19 pandemic on child development and on the actions of the Happy Child Program visitors.

Method

qualitative research, anchored in Bronfenbrenner's Bioecological Theory of Human Development, with eight visitors from the aforementioned program, in a city in Paraíba. Data were collected from January to June 2021, using a semi-structured script, with interviews recorded and processed by IRAMUTEQ, which were later analyzed according to the Descending Hierarchical Classification (Reinert's method), and the Bardin's Content Analysis framework.

Results

the repercussions of the pandemic limit the actions to promote child development by visitors, by hindering interaction with families surrounded by the fear of contracting the disease, incurring a break in the connection between visitors and family, a delay or absence of return of activities by families, feelings such as fear, discouragement, frustration, aggressiveness and attachment to screens as barriers to the continuity of child monitoring.

Final considerations and implications for practice

learning about the repercussions of the COVID-19 pandemic on the development of children assisted by the Happy Child Program, provided an opportunity to reflect upon the strategies necessary to enhance Nursing practice in development surveillance and stimulation actions for comprehensive child health care.

Keywords:
COVID-19; Child; Child development; Pandemics; Home visit