The value of using a storybook to protect the psychological health of children during COVID-19 in resource-limited communities

Maude Mthembu; Tanusha Raniga; Michael  Boecker

doi:10.1921/swssr.v24i2.2024

Authors

Maude Mthembu University KwaZulu-Natal https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1606-2041
Tanusha Raniga University of Johannesburg, Interim DST/NRF Research Chair in Welfare and Social Development and Professor of Social Work https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3694-2115
Michael Boecker Fachhochschule Dortmund, Professor of Social Work https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2420-5604

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.1921/swssr.v24i2.2024

Keywords:

Child-friendly mental health COVID-19, storybook

Abstract

Globally, the COVID-19 pandemic has caused poor mental health, parental loss and food insecurity in children. At the peak of the pandemic, context-relevant and child-friendly COVID-19 tools for child counselling and education were limited in low-income communities. Researchers and social work practitioners created Uhambo Lwami storybook in IsiZulu language to initiate conversations with children about COVID-19. The findings reported are drawn from in-depth interviews with 13 purposively selected community-based social workers and child and youth workers who integrated the storybook into child counselling during the pandemic. The central premise of the paper is their experiences about the use and value of the storybook to support children’s psychological well-being during the pandemic. Two themes are discussed: The use of the storybook with children and its value to support children during the pandemic. The results indicated that the storybook created a child-friendly environment for children to share their psychosocial experiences of living during the pandemic. Furthermore, it facilitated sharing of experiences about death and illness in a caring and responsive manner. Well-designed storybooks are a cost-effective tool useful to initiate sensitive discussions with children. Context-relevant storybooks can be used to educate and alleviate distress in children during pandemics.

Author Biographies

Maude Mthembu, University KwaZulu-Natal

Maude Mthembu is a Senior Lecturer within the Social Work Discipline at the School of Applied Human Sciences.

Tanusha Raniga, University of Johannesburg, Interim DST/NRF Research Chair in Welfare and Social Development and Professor of Social Work

Professor Raniga teaches social policy to social work students and her research focus centres around social protection policy, feminization of poverty and sustainable livelihoods.

Michael Boecker , Fachhochschule Dortmund, Professor of Social Work

Dr Michael Boecker is professor of social work management and impact orientation of social work, as well as a representative for international affairs at the Department of Applied Social Sciences.

References

Albrecht, J. N., Werner, H., Rieger, N., Widmer, N., Janisch, D., Huber, R. and Jenni, O. G. (2022) Association between homeschooling and adolescent sleep duration and health during COVID-19 pandemic high school closures. JAMA Network Open, 5, 1, e2142100 [Accessed November 2022 at https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/34985517/]

Brandt, L., Beima-Sofie, K., Hamunime, N., Shepard, M., Ferris, L., Ingo, P. and O’Malley, G. (2015) Growing up like everyone else: Key components of a successful pediatric HIV disclosure intervention in Namibia. AIDS, 29, 1, 81-89 [Accessed at March 2022 at https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5884675/]

Braun, V. and Clarke, V. (2006) Using thematic analysis in psychology. Qualitative Research in Psychology, 3, 2, 77-101

Cardenas, M. C., Bustos, S. S. and Chakraborty, R. (2020) A ‘parallel ‘pandemic’: The psychosocial burden of COVID‐19 in children and adolescents. Acta Paediatrica, 109, 11, 2187-2188 [Accessed 14 July 2022 at https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/apa.15536]

Carlson, R. and Arthur, N. (1999) Play therapy and the therapeutic use of story. Canadian Journal of Counselling and Psychotherapy, 33, 3, 212-226 [Accessed 17 August 2022 at https://cjc-rcc.ucalgary.ca/article/view/58625/44113]

Clarke, V. and Braun, V. (2013) Teaching thematic analysis: Overcoming challenges and developing strategies for effective learning. The Psychologist, 26, 2,120-123

Dalton, L., Rapa, E. and Stein, A. (2020) Protecting the psychological health of children through effective communication about COVID-19. The Lancet Child & Adolescent Health, 4, 5, 346-347

Dalton, T. A. and Krout, R. E. (2005) Development of the grief process scale through music therapy songwriting with bereaved adolescents. The Arts in Psychotherapy, 32, 2, 131-143

Dubey, S., Biswas, P., Ghosh, R., Chatterjee, S., Dubey, M.J., Chatterjee, S., Lahiri, D. and Lavie, C. J. (2020) Psychosocial impact of COVID-19. Diabetes & Metabolic Syndrome: Clinical Research & Reviews, 14, 5, 779-788

Florez-Arango, J. F., Iyengar, M. S., Dunn, K. and Zhang, J. (2011) Performance factors of mobile rich media job aids for community health workers. Journal of the American Medical Informatics Association, 18, 2, 131-137

Froggett, L. (2004) Holistic practice, art, creativity and the politics of recognition. Social Work and Social Sciences Review, 11, 3, 29-51

Fore, H. H. and Hijazi, Z. (2020) COVID-19 is Hurting Children’s Mental Health. Here’s how to help in World economic forum [Accessed 14 January 2023 at https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2020/05/covid-19-is-hurting-childrens-mental-health/]

Fouché, A., Fouché, D. F. and Theron, L. C. (2020) Child protection and resilience in the face of COVID-19 in South Africa: A rapid review of C-19 legislation. Child Abuse & Neglect, 110, 104710-104717

Gee, J., Marquez, P., Su, J., Calvert, G. M., Liu, R., Myers, T., Nair, N., Martin, S., Clark, T., Markowitz, L., Lindsey, N., Zhang, B., Licata, C., Jazwa, A., Sotir, M. and Shimabukuro, T. (2021) The first month of COVID-19 vaccine safety monitoring—United States, December 14, 2020–January 13, 2021. Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, 70, 8, 283-288

Glazer, H. R. and Marcum, D. (2010) Storytelling. in H. Kaduso and C. Schaefer (Eds.) 101 More Favourite Play Therapy Techniques. Lanham, MD: Jason Aronson (pp.78-90)

Huang, A. L. (2017) School social workers in the USA: Using collaboration to maximize service delivery and utilizing evidence based practices for social skills building. Social Work and Social Sciences Review, 18, 3, 101-112

Imran, N., Zeshan, M. and Pervaiz, Z. (2020) Mental health considerations for children & adolescents in COVID-19 pandemic. Pakistan Journal of Medical Sciences, 36, COVID-19 S 4, 67-72 [Accessed 07 November 2022 at https://doi.org/10.12669/pjms.36.COVID19-S4.2759]

Kim, A. W., Burgess, R., Chiwandire, N., Kwinda, Z., Tsai, A. C., Norris, S. A. and Mendenhall, E. (2021) Perceptions, risk and understandings of the COVID-19 Pandemic in urban South Africa. South African Journal of Psychiatry, 27, 0, 1-10 [Accessed 06 November 2022 at https://doi.org/10.4102/sajpsychiatry.27i0.1580]

Lateef, R., Alaggia, R. and Collin-Vézina, D. (2021) A scoping review on psychosocial consequences of pandemics on parents and children: Planning for today and the future. Children and Youth Services Review, 125, 106002-106002 [Accessed 16 November 2022 at https://psycnet.apa.org/doi/10.1016/j.childyouth.2021.106002]

Liang, L., Ren, H., Cao, R., Hu, Y., Qin, Z., Li, C. and Mei, S. (2020) The effect of COVID-19 on youth mental health. The Psychiatric Quarterly, 91, 3, 841-852

Mahlangu, P., Gibbs, A., Shai, N., Machisa, M., Nunze, N. and Sikweyiya, Y. (2022) Impact of COVID-19 lockdown and link to women and children’s experiences of violence in the home in South Africa. BMC Public Health, 22, 1, 1029

Meherali, S., Punjani, N., Louie-Poon, S., Abdul Rahim, K., Das, J. K., Salam, R. A. and Lassi, Z. S. (2021) The mental health of children and adolescents amidst COVID-19 and past pandemics: A rapid systematic review. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 18, 7, 3432.

Meintjes, H., Hall, K. and Sambu, W. (2015) Demography of South Africa’s children. in A. De Lannoy, S. Swartz, L. Lake, C. Smith (Eds.) South African Child Gauge. Cape Town: Children’s Institute, University of Cape Town (pp.102-106)

Miller-Lewis, L. R., Searle, A. K., Sawyer, M. G., Baghurst, P. A. and Hedley, D. (2013) Resource factors for mental health resilience in early childhood: An analysis with multiple methodologies. Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and Mental Health, 7, 6-23.

Mlotshwa, T. and Mthembu, M. (2021) The use and value of a child assessment tool (CAT) in social work child assessments. Social Work/Maatskapliker Werk, 57, 4, 443-454

Mthembu, M. and Mkhize, N. (2019) Social workers’ reflections on utilising indigenous games in child counselling. Southern African Journal of Social Work and Social Development, 31, 2, 1-15.

Mutambo, C., Shumba, K. and Hlongwana, K. W. (2021) Exploring the mechanism through which a child-friendly storybook addresses barriers to child participation during HIV care in primary healthcare settings in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. BMC Public Health, 21, 1-15

Naicker, S., Berry, L., Drysdale, R., Makushaiii, T. and Richter, L. (2022) Families: Foundations for child and adolescent mental health and well-being. in South African Child Gauge 2021/2022. Cape Town: University of Cape Town , Children’s Institute (p.17)

O’Sullivan, K., Clark, S., McGrane, A., Rock, N., Burke, L., Boyle, N. and Marshall, K. (2021) A qualitative study of child and adolescent mental health during the COVID-19 Pandemic in Ireland. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 18, 3, 1062

Petrowski, N., Cappa, C., Pereira, A., Mason, H. and Daban, R. A. (2021) Violence against children during COVID-19: Assessing and understanding change in use of helplines. Child Abuse & Neglect, 116, 2, 104757-15 [Accessed 12 December 2022 at https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7518206/pdf/main.pdf]

Phillips, K. P. (2014). The emerging republican majority. (updated edition) Princeton : Princeton University Press

Raniga, T. and Mthembu, M. (2017) Family resilience in low-income communities: A case study of an informal settlement in KwaZulu‐Natal, South Africa. International Journal of Social Welfare, 26, 3, 276-284.

Ringson, J. and Raniga, T. (2022) The Implications of COVID-19 on informal trading in Gauteng, South Africa. African Journal of Governance & Development, 11, 1.2, 307-327

Sewpaul, V., Kreitzer, L. and Raniga, T. (2021) The Tensions Between Culture and Human Rights: Emancipatory social work and Afrocentricity in a global world. Calgarie: The University of Calgary Press (p.314)

Shochet, I. M., Dadds, M. R., Ham, D. and Montague, R. (2006) School connectedness is an underemphasized parameter in adolescent mental health: Results of a community prediction study. Journal of Clinical Child & Adolescent Psychology, 35, 2, 170-179

Silubonde, T. M., Draper, C. and Norris, S. (2022) Perceptions of the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Qualitative Study with South African adults. Research Square (p.1-27) [Accessed 17 November 2022 at https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-2104226/v1]

Silverberg, S.L., Zhang, B.Y., Li, S.N.J., Burget,C., Shulha, H.P., Kitchin, V., Sauve, L. & Sadarangani, M.(2022) Child transmission of SARS-CoV-2: a systematic review and meta-analysis. BMC paediatrics, 22, 1, 1-13

Skeen, S., Gemmell, K., du Toit, S., Mawoyo, T., Bantjes, J., Kara, T. and Laurenzii, C. (2022) The role of educational institutions in promoting and protecting mental health across childhood, adolescence and youth. in M. Tomlinson, S. Kleintjes and L. Lake (Eds.) South African Child Gauge 2021/2022. Cape Town: Children’s Institute, University of Cape Town (pp.89-98)

Tomlinson, M., Kleintjes, S. and Lake, L. (Eds.) (2022) South African Child Gauge 2021/2022. Cape Twon: Children’s Institute, University of Cape Town

Van Breda, A. D. and Theron, L. C. (2018) A critical review of South African child and youth resilience studies, 2009–2017. Children and Youth Services Review, 91, 237-247

Villa, D. P. and Demmer, C. (2005) Exploring the link between AIDS-related grief and unsafe sex. Illness, Crisis & Loss, 13, 3, 219-233

World Health Organization and United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF). (2022) Considerations for integrating COVID-19 vaccination into immunization programmes and primary health care for 2022 and beyond. Geneva: WHO and UNICEF [Accessed January 2023 at https://apps.who.int/iris/bitstream/handle/10665/366171/9789240064454-eng.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y]Table 1