New research-backed tools ready to support parents in navigating COVID-19 pandemic
Shannon Scott and Lisa Hartling
Researchers at the University of Alberta have developed a series of new information tools to help parents with questions about their children and COVID-19.
The three videos and three interactive infographics cover caring for a child with COVID-19, vaccinating children against the virus and re-socializing children as they return to more activities.
The tools were created by pediatrics professor Lisa Hartling, director of the Alberta Research Centre for Health Evidence, and nursing professor Shannon Scott, principal investigator for the research program Translating Evidence in Child Health to Enhance Outcomes, or ECHO.
The tools are available through the ECHO website as well as Translating Emergency Knowledge for Kids, which is co-directed by Hartling and Scott.
The two have worked together since 2005 on similar health tools. Their process includes a parent advisory group that provides input and feedback. “It is an iterative co-development process,” explains Scott.
To develop the new tools for COVID-19, they went even further, interviewing more than two dozen parents and running focus groups for about 70 participants.
Once they understand parents’ concerns about a health topic, Hartling and Scott look at the latest available research and literature. For COVID-19, that meant staying on top of a moving target.
