PARENTAL ANXIETY LEVEL AND KNOWLEDGE ABOUT GROWTH AND DEVELOPMENT OF CHILD AGED 0-5 YEARS DURING COVID-19 PANDEMIC

Abstract

Parents’ understanding of the growth and development of their children is a must amid social restrictions in dealing with the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, which has an impact on increasing parental anxiety. This research objective was to determine parental anxiety levels and knowledge about the growth and development of child aged 0-5 years old during Covid-19 Pandemic. The research design was a cross-sectional approach tested with the chi-square test. Seventy samples met the inclusion criteria, then measured with parents' basic knowledge and anxiety levels using the Hamilton Anxiety Rating Scale (HARS) Questionnaire and children's growth and development detection using the Developmental Pre-Screening Questionnaire (KPSP). A total of 41.4% of the sample experienced moderate anxiety; 14.3% mild; 37.1% severe; and 7.1% very severe. Children from 0-5 years old at Citra Residence, Jatimurni, Bekasi City, had developments not following their age stages. It was found that there was a relationship between the level of anxiety and parental knowledge about children's growth and development with a p-value of 0.000. However, there was no strong relationship based on the contingency coefficient value of 0.453 (p>0.5). There was a relationship between parental anxiety level and knowledge about growth and development of child aged 0-5 years during Covid-19 Pandemic.