Infância, pandemia e luto: ampliação da rede de apoio afetiva e social de crianças por intermédio de uma intervenção psicossocial

Abstract

This study aimed to assess the effects of a psychosocial intervention in expanding the perceived social support network of children who lost one or more loved ones as a result of the contamination by COVID-19. This is a quasi-experimental study, based on the mixed-methods approach and with a cross-sectional design. Eighteen children participated, aged between 8-11 years old (M = 10; SD = 0.82), randomly divided into Experimental Group (GEx) and Control Group (CG). The intervention took place over eight sessions and was conducted in the context of a public school. The Five Fields Map (FFM) was employed for data collection and the data obtained in the pre-test (T1) and post-test (T2) measures were evaluated through descriptive analysis and through the robust t test for truncated mean and dependent samples. The findings showed that the intervention was able to increase the perception of social support received in the Friends field, as well as increase the frequency of people mentioned in Level 1 of the FFM. In addition, the averages showed that the effect size in favor of GEx compared to CG was of moderate magnitude in the dimensions Family (δt = 0.4; p = 0.26), Institution (δt = 0.53; p = 0.07), Friends (δt = 0.41; p = 0.07), Community (δt =0.33; p = 0.45) and Total (δt =0.64; p = 0.11). The limitations of the investigation are discussed, as well as future studies are indicated, especially in relation to psychosocial intervention programs aimed at children who experience losses in disaster contexts.