Lessons Learned—The Impact of the Third Wave of the COVID-19 Pandemic on German Waldorf Parents’ Support Needs and Their Rating of Children’s Health-Related Quality of Life: A Cross-Sectional Online Survey

Jan Vagedes (), Karin Michael, Mohsen Sobh, Mohammad O. A. Islam, Silja Kuderer, Christian Jeske, Anne Kaman, David Martin, Katrin Vagedes, Michael Erhart, Ulrike Ravens-Sieberer and Tomáš Zdražil
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Jan Vagedes: Academic Research in Complementary and Integrative Medicine (ARCIM Institute), 70794 Filderstadt, Germany
Karin Michael: Community Hospital Witten-Herdecke, 58313 Herdecke, Germany
Mohsen Sobh: Academic Research in Complementary and Integrative Medicine (ARCIM Institute), 70794 Filderstadt, Germany
Mohammad O. A. Islam: Academic Research in Complementary and Integrative Medicine (ARCIM Institute), 70794 Filderstadt, Germany
Silja Kuderer: Academic Research in Complementary and Integrative Medicine (ARCIM Institute), 70794 Filderstadt, Germany
Christian Jeske: Academic Research in Complementary and Integrative Medicine (ARCIM Institute), 70794 Filderstadt, Germany
Anne Kaman: Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Psychotherapy, and Psychosomatics, University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf, 20246 Hamburg, Germany
David Martin: Department of Human Medicine, Faculty of Health, Witten-Herdecke University, 58455 Witten, Germany
Katrin Vagedes: Academic Research in Complementary and Integrative Medicine (ARCIM Institute), 70794 Filderstadt, Germany
Michael Erhart: Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Psychotherapy, and Psychosomatics, University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf, 20246 Hamburg, Germany
Ulrike Ravens-Sieberer: Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Psychotherapy, and Psychosomatics, University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf, 20246 Hamburg, Germany
Tomáš Zdražil: Department of Health and Pedagogy, Freie Hochschule Stuttgart, 70188 Stuttgart, Germany

IJERPH, 2023, vol. 20, issue 6, 1-13

Abstract: Background: COVID-19-related lockdowns and homeschooling have imposed a substantial burden on school-aged children and parents. Waldorf education is a reform-educational concept. Little is known about the situation of German Waldorf families under pandemic conditions. Methods: A cross-sectional, online, parent-proxy survey was conducted regarding the third pandemic wave. The primary outcome was parents’ support needs, assessed with questions from the German COPSY ( CO VID-19 and PSY chological Health) study; the secondary outcome was children’s HRQoL (KIDSCREEN-10, proxy version). Results: We analyzed questionnaires from 431 parents of 511 Waldorf students aged 7 to 17 years. While 70.8% of Waldorf parents (WPs) reported a general need for support in dealing with their children, 59.9% of COPSY parents (CPs) indicated this need. WPs’ support needs in dealing with their children’s academic demands were similar to CPs’ needs but relatively higher in terms of dealing with emotions and moods, behavior, and relationships within the family. WPs sought support mainly from school and teachers (65.6%). Support needs were high, although WPs rated their children’s HRQoL higher than CPs. Conclusions: Our results underline the substantial pandemic-related burden on families across school types. WPs participating in this survey gave evidence that supports should focus on academic demands as well as psychosocial issues.

Keywords: COVID-19; pandemic; coronavirus; homeschooling; Waldorf school; child health-related quality of life; parent support need (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
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