Impact of the COVID-19 Italian Lockdown on the Physiological and Psychological Well-Being of Children with Fragile X Syndrome and Their Families

Elisa Di Giorgio, Roberta Polli, Marco Lunghi and Alessandra Murgia
Additional contact information
Elisa Di Giorgio: Department of Developmental Psychology and Socialization, University of Padova, Via Venezia 8, 35131 Padova, Italy
Roberta Polli: Molecular Genetics of Neurodevelopment, Department of Woman and Child Health, University of Padova, Via Giustiniani 3, 35128 Padova, Italy
Marco Lunghi: Department of Developmental Psychology and Socialization, University of Padova, Via Venezia 8, 35131 Padova, Italy
Alessandra Murgia: Molecular Genetics of Neurodevelopment, Department of Woman and Child Health, University of Padova, Via Giustiniani 3, 35128 Padova, Italy

IJERPH, 2021, vol. 18, issue 11, 1-9

Abstract: On 10 March 2020, in Italy, a total lockdown was put in place to limit viral transmission of COVID-19 infection as much as possible. Research on the psychological impact of the COVID-19 pandemic highlighted detrimental effects in children and their parents. However, little is known about such effects in children with neurodevelopment disorders and their caregivers. The present study investigated how the lockdown has impacted the physiological and psychological well-being of children with Fragile X-Syndrome (FXS), aged from 2 to 16 years, and their mothers. In an online survey, 48 mothers of FXS children reported their perception of self-efficacy as caregivers and, at the same time, their children’s sleep habits, behavioral and emotional difficulties during, and retrospectively, before the lockdown. Results showed a general worsening of sleep quality, and increasing behavioral problems. Although mothers reported a reduction in external support, their perception of self-efficacy as caregivers did not change during the home confinement compared to the period before. Overall, the present study suggested that specific interventions to manage sleep problems, as well as specific therapeutic and social support for increasing children and mother psychological well-being, need to be in place to mitigate the long-term effects of a lockdown.

Keywords: COVID-19; children with fragile-X syndrome; lockdown effects; sleep problems; psychological well-being; parental self-efficacy (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/18/11/5752/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/18/11/5752/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:18:y:2021:i:11:p:5752-:d:563363

Access Statistics for this article

IJERPH is currently edited by Ms. Jenna Liu

More articles in IJERPH from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().