Publications by authors named "K A Oostrom"
Playfulness represents the disposition to play and has important mental health benefits. Children's playfulness is mainly rated by parents, teachers or trained assessors but playfulness is not always reflected in overt behavior. Fortunately, even young children are able to provide a perspective on their playfulness, as illustrated by research with the Child Self-Report Playfulness questionnaire (CSRP).
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: The COVID-19 pandemic negatively affected child and adolescent mental health and at the end of the pandemic (April 2022) child mental health had not returned to pre-pandemic levels. We investigated whether this observed increase in mental health problems has continued, halted, or reversed after the end of the pandemic in children from the general population and in children in psychiatric care.
Methods: We collected parent-reported and child-reported data at two additional post-pandemic time points (November/December 2022 and March/April 2023) in children (8-18 years) from two general population samples ( = 818-1056 per measurement) and one clinical sample receiving psychiatric care ( = 320-370) and compared these with data from before the pandemic.
Article Synopsis
- The study aimed to investigate the prevalence of Pediatric Post-COVID-19 Condition (PPCC), identify associated risk factors, and evaluate the quality of life in children based on the severity of their acute COVID-19 illness.
- A total of 579 children participated, with 260 experiencing mild COVID-19, 60 with severe disease, and 259 as a control group; results indicated that those with severe COVID-19 had a significantly higher prevalence of PPCC compared to mild cases and controls.
- Findings showed that while prevalence of PPCC decreased over time, children exhibiting PPCC had worse physical health-related quality of life and fatigue, with risk factors including prior health issues, hospitalizations, and ongoing fatigue one month post-infection.
Post-COVID-19 condition in children is a still largely unknown syndrome with a diverse pattern of symptoms, which can have a major impact on daily life. Currently, there are no evidence-based proven treatments, and the focus is on symptom management and recovery of daily functioning. A multidisciplinary, tailored approach is recommended, with attention to energy management and activity building, where the main goal should be a return to baseline levels of cognitive, physical and social activity.
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