Adaptation and verification of the effectiveness of a program to promote mental health and resilience in children affected by COVID-19

Pandemics, in general, compromise the psychological system and people's behavior, insofar as they alter the routine, generate insecurity and expose the population to dire realities. In many cases, this adverse context can trigger syndromic conditions resulting from the post-calamity. It can be said that children make up a risk group not only because they are exposed to the virus, but because they experience levels of stress, anxiety and tension in the face of the catastrophe that hit them. Children's reactions to pandemics depend on a number of factors, including how they were dealing with the day-to-day challenges before the disaster; how severe the disaster was and how much it impacted their lives; the people they loved were lost; whether they were separated from their parents or other caregivers; and the type of support systems they have after the disaster. Understanding the situations that produced the pandemic, expanding the network of affective-social support and strengthening family and community bonds are strategies capable of favoring children's resilience processes, since they can imply the construction of social and psychological resources that help them in coping with the misfortunes generated. Based on these considerations, this research project aims to adapt and verify the effectiveness of a psychosocial intervention program aimed at children who have had adverse experiences due to the COVID-19 pandemic. This is a research-intervention type investigation, carried out from a transversal cut and that will use the quantitative and qualitative approaches to evaluate the effectiveness of a psychosocial intervention program developed by Save the Children of Denmark. The program, consisting of 15 sessions, will be tested in a group of approximately 100 children (subdivided, a posteriori, into Experimental Group - GEx - and Espera Group - GEs). Participants will come from 5 Brazilian cities: São Carlos (SP); Fortaleza (CE); Belém (PA); Brasilia DF); Porto Alegre (RS). To verify the effectiveness of the intervention, quantitative and qualitative instruments will be used: i) Children's Depression Inventory - CDI; ii) Child Stress Scale - ESI; iii) Scale of Positive and Negative Affections; iv) Child and Youth Resilience Measure (CYRM) - Child Version; v) Map of the Five Fields (MCC); vi) Field diaries. After the procedure for translating the program manuals (through back-translation), the pre-test, conduct of the intervention, post-test and follow-up will be carried out with both groups. It is hypothesized that the participants will present statistically significant improvements in terms of the mental health indicators evaluated and the resilience processes after engaging in the intervention. If the results obtained are in line with the hypotheses raised, the researchers will organize the material to be disseminated among professionals working in the field of promoting psychosocial interventions, so that the program can be replicated in other contexts after the COVID pandemic period. -19. (AU) After the procedure for translating the program manuals (through back-translation), the pre-test, conduct of the intervention, post-test and follow-up will be carried out with both groups. It is hypothesized that the participants will present statistically significant improvements in terms of the mental health indicators evaluated and the resilience processes after engaging in the intervention. If the results obtained are in line with the hypotheses raised, the researchers will organize the material to be disseminated among professionals working in the field of promoting psychosocial interventions, so that the program can be replicated in other contexts after the COVID pandemic period. -19. (AU) After the procedure for translating the program manuals (through the back-translation), the pre-test, conduction of the intervention, post-test and follow-up will be carried out with both groups. It is hypothesized that the participants will present statistically significant improvements in terms of the mental health indicators evaluated and the resilience processes after engaging in the intervention. If the results obtained are in line with the hypotheses raised, the researchers will organize the material to be disseminated among professionals working in the field of promoting psychosocial interventions, so that the program can be replicated in other contexts after the COVID pandemic period. -19. (AU) conducting the intervention, post-test and follow-up with both groups. It is hypothesized that the participants will present statistically significant improvements in terms of the mental health indicators evaluated and the resilience processes after engaging in the intervention. If the results obtained are in line with the hypotheses raised, the researchers will organize the material to be disseminated among professionals working in the field of promoting psychosocial interventions, so that the program can be replicated in other contexts after the COVID pandemic period. -19. (AU) conducting the intervention, post-test and follow-up with both groups. It is hypothesized that the participants will present statistically significant improvements in terms of the mental health indicators evaluated and the resilience processes after engaging in the intervention. If the results obtained are in line with the hypotheses raised, the researchers will organize the material to be disseminated among professionals working in the field of promoting psychosocial interventions, so that the program can be replicated in other contexts after the COVID pandemic period. -19. (AU) It is hypothesized that the participants will present statistically significant improvements in terms of the mental health indicators evaluated and the resilience processes after engaging in the intervention. If the results obtained are in line with the hypotheses raised, the researchers will organize the material to be disseminated among professionals working in the field of promoting psychosocial interventions, so that the program can be replicated in other contexts after the COVID pandemic period. -19. (AU) It is hypothesized that the participants will present statistically significant improvements in terms of the mental health indicators evaluated and the resilience processes after engaging in the intervention. If the results obtained are in line with the hypotheses raised, the researchers will organize the material to be disseminated among professionals working in the field of promoting psychosocial interventions, so that the program can be replicated in other contexts after the COVID pandemic period. -19. (AU) so that the program can be replicated in other contexts after the COVID-19 pandemic period. (AU) so that the program can be replicated in other contexts after the COVID-19 pandemic period. (AU)