UNDERSTANDING CHILDREN’S EXPERIENCES DURING THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC

Abstract

The Coronavirus outbreak has heralded a mental health crisis across the globe. The developmental needs of children and adolescents intensify the challenges faced by them in understanding and coping with the pandemic, making them one of the vulnerable population segments at greater risk of adverse mental health outcomes. Moreover, widespread school closure and home confinement measures have rendered certain factors crucial for healthy childhood development inaccessible. While the world has been recognising the enhanced psychosocial vulnerability of children during this global health crisis, research capturing children’s experience of the same in India is critically limited.