The Resilience of Caregivers and Children in the Context of COVID-19: A Systematic Review

The COVID-19 pandemic has necessitated caregivers and school-aged children to adapt to ongoing changes and uncertainty. Understanding why some caregivers and school-aged children area able to adapt and others are not could be attributed to resilience. The relationships between caregiver or child resilience and socioeconomic status (SES) in the context of COVID-19 remain largely un-explored. Therefore, the purpose of this qualitative systematic review was to explore (1) what is currently known about the relationship between caregiver and child resilience in the context of COVID-19; and (2) the role of SES on caregiver or child resilience throughout the COVID-19 pandemic. Four databases (i.e., MEDLINE, Scopus, PsycINFO, and CINAHL) were systematically searched, title/abstract and full-text screening were conducted, and 17 articles met the inclusion criteria (i.e., discussed resilience of caregivers/children during COVID-19, mean age of children between 7–10, primary research/grey literature, English), including 15 peer-reviewed and two grey literature sources. Thematic analysis revealed five themes: (1) the mitigating effects of child resilience; (2) overcoming the psychological toll of the pandemic; (3) the unknown relationship: caregiver and child resilience; (4) family functioning during COVID-19; and (5) the perfect storm for socioeconomic impacts. Results from this review provide the first synthesis of the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the resilience of caregivers and school-aged children. Future research should conduct longitudinal data collection to understand the possible long-term impacts of the pandemic on these populations’ resilience. Understanding these impacts will be integral to assisting families in bouncing back from the long-lasting adverse circumstances caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.