Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2022 Aug;130(Pt 1):105457.
doi: 10.1016/j.chiabu.2021.105457. Epub 2022 Jan 10.

Mental health & maltreatment risk of children with special educational needs during COVID-19

Winnie W Y Tso  1 , Ko Ling Chan  2 , Tatia M C Lee  3 , Nirmala Rao  4 , S L Lee  5 , Fan Jiang  6 , Sophelia H S Chan  5 , Wilfred H S Wong  5 , Rosa S Wong  5 , Keith T S Tung  5 , Jason C Yam  7 , Anthony P Y Liu  5 , Gilbert T Chua  5 , Jaime S Rosa Duque  5 , Almen L N Lam  5 , K M Yip  5 , L K Leung  5 , Yuliang Wang  5 , Jin Sun  8 , Guanghai Wang  6 , Godfrey C F Chan  5 , Ian C K Wong  9 , Patrick Ip  10
Affiliations

Mental health & maltreatment risk of children with special educational needs during COVID-19

Winnie W Y Tso et al. Child Abuse Negl. 2022 Aug.

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/behavioural 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, ꭓ2 = 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.

Keywords: COVID-19; Child maltreatment; Mental health; Special educational needs.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

None.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Percentage of different types of disabilities among the children with SEN.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Asbury K., Fox L., Deniz E., Code A., Toseeb U. How is COVID-19 affecting the mental health of children with special educational needs and disabilities and their families? Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders. 2021;51(5):1772–1780. doi: 10.1007/s10803-020-04577-2. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Becker S.P., Breaux R., Cusick C.N., Dvorsky M.R., Marsh N.P., Sciberras E., Langberg J.M. Remote Learning During COVID-19: Examining School Practices, Service Continuation, and Difficulties for Adolescents With and Without Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder. Journal of Adolescent Health. 2020;67(6):769–777. doi: 10.1016/j.jadohealth.2020.09.002. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Bradshaw S., Bem D., Shaw K., Taylor B., Chiswell C., Salama M., Cummins C. Improving health, wellbeing and parenting skills in parents of children with special health care needs and medical complexity – a scoping review. BMC Pediatrics. 2019;19(1):1–11. doi: 10.1186/s12887-019-1648-7. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Brown S.M., Doom J.R., Lechuga-Peña S., Watamura S.E., Koppels T. Stress and parenting during the global COVID-19 pandemic. Child Abuse & Neglect. 2020;110 - PMC - PubMed
    1. Chan K.L., Emery C.R., Ip P. Children with disability are more at risk of violence victimization: Evidence from a study of school-aged Chinese children. Journal of Interpersonal Violence. 2016;31(6):1026–1046. doi: 10.1177/0886260514564066. - DOI - PubMed

Publication types