Running head: STUDENTS IN QUARANTINE 1

Population and Community Health Promotion Paper

Students in Quarantine

Jessica Elliott

NUR 330- Population and Community Health

Dr. Heacock

April 26, 2020

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For a school nurse, their job is more than fixing “booboo’s”, giving out Tylenol, and

sending sick children home. Many school nurses tend to see the same children over and over.

Whether the issue is behavioral or medical, school nurses tend to pick up on these patterns

quickly and notice any changes. More often than not, these patterns can stem from issues at

home. Typically, school nurses become aware of these situations and are able to seek the proper

help, monitor, or report the situation when appropriate. However, due to COVID-19, schools are

now closed across the country, and even globally. In addition, all non-essential businesses are

closed. This means that most children are home with their parents every day. For some children,

this is a good thing, but not for all.

Assessment

Most adults that are home due to COVID-19 are not receiving a paycheck from their

employer. In addition, many adults have struggled to come in contact with someone at the

unemployment office. This means that there is little to no income but, the bills are still due.

According to Ashley Abramson of the American Psychological Association, “Increased stress

levels among parents is often a major predictor of physical abuse and neglect of children.” In

addition, many resources that parents rely on such as after school programs, churches, extended

family members, and other community resources are currently unavailable in most areas. With

stay at home orders in place, many government agencies are not able to conduct in home visits

unless an emergent situation occurs. These two factors can lead to both an increase in child abuse

and a decrease in child abuse reporting. (Abramson, 2020) In addition to parental stress, children

are also under increased amounts of stress. These children can no longer follow their normal

routines or even see their friends. In addition, most states are requiring schools to switch to

online learning platforms. This is added stress to both students and parents. Stressed parents may
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respond to their children’s stress or anxious behaviors with aggressiveness or abusive behaviors.

(Abramson, 2020) On the other side of this situation, parents may not be able to take off work

due to “essential” jobs. Some of these jobs include healthcare workers, law enforcement, grocery

store workers, and countless others. Parents that work in these fields may be home less than

normal due to the pandemic. In this case, children may experience neglect due to unintentional

decreased supervision. (“COVID-19, 2020)

According to the Children’s Law Center at the University of South Carolina’s School of

Law, in conjunction with the state of South Carolina’s Department of Social Services, children

are currently at an increased risk for emotional maltreatment, psychological distress, separation,

and social exclusion. The mandatory quarantine measures can create fear and panic in children,

especially if they are not educated in what is happening. Additionally, children may be separated

from their parent or parents. Many essential workers do not feel comfortable with possibly

exposing their children to COVID-19. Because of this, many children are either living with

another parent (if parents are divorced) or staying with relatives. Between being apart from

family and being physically isolated from friends, children are at an increased risk for emotional

separation and other issues in relation to COVID-19. (“Abuse and Neglect,” 2020)

Interventions

In order to make sure children’s needs are met during the COVID-19 pandemic, parents,

family members, community members, and community leaders all need to have responsibilities.

While parents already have the responsibility of caring for their children, it makes an impact on

children based on how they are cared for. Parents can only take care of their children if they take

care of themselves as well. Parental selfcare can include limiting exposure to the media, going

for a walk/ jog, or communicating with friends and family. Ultimately, anything that effectively
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reduces stress, reduces the risk for child neglect and/ or abuse. (Abramson, 2020) In addition,

family and community members that children are used to interacting with, should keep up

communication via text message, phone call, or video chat- as appropriate. Not only can this give

children part of their “normal” back, but it also gives children an outlet for reporting any abuse

or neglect. In addition, high risk children should be followed up by either the department of

social services or a school nurse. Typically, children are comfortable with these workers as long

as they are familiar with the person. These services could decrease child abuse/ neglect and also

decrease the risk for new mental health issues in school age children. Children that received

home visits prior to COVID-19 should not have them stopped since they are now at an even

higher risk for neglect or abuse. (“COVID-19,” 2020)

Goals

In order for any of these interventions to become a reality, a plan with achievable goals is

necessary. For goals to be considered realistic, they must be specific, measurable, achievable,

realistic, and timely. For example: Middle and high school students will effectively communicate

with a trusted adult by texting, calling, or video chatting at least once a week until September of

2020. This goal address all five parts of a realistic goal. While the “time” may be further out than

most goals, it is set to be until students (hopefully) return to school in the fall. This goal allows

students to interact with trusted adults and share anything that they would not be comfortable

sharing with their parents. A second goal would be: Parents will effectively manage stress by

taking at least one, thirty-minute walk per day for the next four weeks. By the end of the four

weeks, more businesses would reopen and parents would be back to work. This goal is realistic

as well. It is a measurable goal over a specific period of time. By achieving this goal, stress

levels would be reduced, therefore decreasing the risk for child abuse or neglect. A third goal
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would be: School nurses will follow up with “at risk” students that have chronic medical

conditions at least once per week via phone call, video chat, or an in person social distanced visit

until June 16th, 2020. This goal may be slightly more difficult than the first two, however, it is

still a realistic goal. Many students that visit the nurse’s office for existing medical conditions

also have home issues. This goal would allow school nurses to continue to work and to ensure

“at risk” student safety. Per the Delmar School District’s website, the last day of classes for the

year would have been June 16th, 2020. Therefore, the time length on this goal would ensure

student safety until the “end of the school year.”

Evaluation of Goals

In order to determine the effectiveness of the three goals, an evaluation of the goals

would need to be completed. Since these goals are not actually in place, they cannot truly be

measured. However, a “proposed evaluation” can be completed.

Goal one: Middle and high school students will effectively communicate with a trusted

adult by texting, calling, or video chatting at least once a week until September of 2020. This

goal would be highly possible to achieve and would make others aware of the student’s situation.

Not only would this occur, but these students would also strengthen their relationships with their

chosen individual.

Goal two: Parents will effectively manage stress by taking at least one, thirty-minute

walk per day for the next four weeks. This is another goal that would be highly possible to

achieve and could actually decrease the risk for child abuse and neglect. While not every parent

would be willing to do this, those that do would see both emotional and physical benefits.
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Goal three: School nurses will follow up with “at risk” students that have chronic medical

conditions at least once per week via phone call, video chat, or an in person social distanced visit

until June 16th, 2020. While goal three is realistic, it would be slightly harder to implement than

goals one and two. If implemented, the outcome would be positive for the students involved. Not

only would allow a trusted member of the community to assess the children, but it would also

give the children an opportunity to see someone outside of their family.

Conclusion

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, schools worldwide are closed. Because of these

“safety” measures, children are at an increased risk for child abuse and neglect. Additionally,

these children are also at an increased risk for mental health disorders. However, when goals are

implemented and trusted family and community members are involved, these children can be

kept safe.
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References

Abramson, A. (2020, April 8). How COVID-19 may increase domestic violence and child abuse.

American Psychological Association. Retrieved from: https://www.apa.org/topics/covid-

19/domestic-violence-child-abuse

Human Rights Watch. (2020, April 9). COVID-19 and children’s rights. Retrieved from: https://

www.hrw.org/news/2020/04/09/covid-19-and-childrens-rights-0#_Toc37256529

Children’s Law Center, University of South Carolina School of Law and South Carolina

Department of Social Services. (2020, April). COVID-19: Heightened Risk of Abuse and

Neglect. Retrieved from: https://dss.sc.gov/media/2334/covid-19-mandated-reporting.pdf