Giving Compass' Take:

• Jared Wadley looks at a study revealing the detrimental impact of remote education on parents' mental health.

• What can you do to support further research on and solutions for parents' mental health struggles throughout the pandemic?

• Learn about your role as a donor in supporting the mental health of parents and children during COVID-19.

As schools nationwide suspended in-person education, many parents felt overwhelmed and stressed about teaching their child at home, according to a new report.

The COVID-19 pandemic presented parents with new challenges on how best to prepare and support their children for a different school experience. In the early days of the pandemic, nearly 80% of parents were educating their child at home.

“Social distancing and stay-at-home orders disconnected millions of children from in-person education and left little time for parents to prepare to support their children’s education at home,” says Shawna Lee, associate professor of social work at the University of Michigan, director of the Parenting in Context Research Lab, and lead author of the study.

Among the findings:

  • Half of parents felt overwhelmed by their responsibilities to educate their children at home and one in four felt they did not have the resources they needed for at-home education.
  • About 24% of parents indicated that their child was fearful or anxious and 30% of parents indicated their child was nervous, high strung, or tense.
  • Two out of every five parents met the criteria for major depression and criteria for moderate or severe anxiety.
  • Nearly 60% of parents who utilized free or reduced-cost breakfast or lunch programs were no longer able to receive that resource. This problem suggests that many school-age children faced hunger as the pandemic continued.
  • Economic hardship was common among the parents surveyed—24% reported an employment status change (e.g., laid off, furloughed) due to COVID-19.

Read the full article about parents' mental health during remote school by Jared Wadley at Futurity.