Drs. Howard and Joy Osofsky Help Chinese Parents Support Children Isolated Due to COVID-19
Leslie Capo, Director of Information Services
Editor's Note: This press release was originally published March 4, 2020 but details some of the
School of Medicine's earliest outreach efforts, as well as a resource that can still
be of use to children isolated around the world due to COVID-19.
Joy Osofsky, PhD, Professor and Paul Ramsay Chair of Psychiatry, and Howard Osofsky, MD, Professor and
Chair of the Department of Psychiatry, have developed a guide, Supporting Young Children
Isolated Due to Coronavirus (COVID-19), with a Chinese translation.
“We were asked by the Chinese American Psychoanalytic Association to develop information
and materials for COVID-19 that would be helpful to children, parents, caregivers,
and others to support the children and families who have been quarantined and isolated
in China,” explains Dr. Joy Osofsky. “This material is directed more to younger children;
however, we also have information available for older children as well.”
The materials are being distributed to clinicians being trained in China, students
and others in communities.
“The children are isolated when quarantined,” notes Dr. Howard Osofsky. “They have
to stay at home, schools are closed, and they cannot go out to play or visit friends.
There is also much anxiety and stress about the coronavirus and this material helps
families and other caregivers with ways to communicate with the children.”
Things that parents and caregivers can do to help children include:
- Routines are very important for young children. Creating new routines or reestablishing
usual routines can help children feel safe. Keeping regular mealtimes and bedtimes,
setting a daily time to play games together, read to them, or sing songs together
all help.
- Support from parents or caregivers is very important during periods of stress and
during the time after the acute disaster is over. Parents may be physically present
but not available emotionally because they are so stressed themselves. It is important
to make time to reassure young children and spend time with them.
- Explain why things are different. Young children may not understand why things have
changed (like why they cannot go outside or play with other children) but talking
with them will help them feel supported by you. Help the children in a way that is
appropriate for their age. Keep explanations simple.
- Take care of yourself. This is very important. Even if young children are not directly
exposed to the trauma, they can recognize stress and worry in older children and adults
in the house.
- If young children have been sent to stay with family members in another city talk to them using electronic means as often as possible during the day and at bedtime. If they are at home, try to arrange for them to see other children using a cellphone.
The full recommendations, in English and Mandarin, are available here.
There is a large network connected to the Chinese American Psychoanalytic Association
that has been doing training in China for more than a decade.
For decades, the Osofskys and colleagues in the department of psychiatry have been
consulted for their expertise in helping children and families cope with disasters
such as school shootings, the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina and the Deepwater Horizon
Oil Spill, as well as violence in the community.