Date of Award

5-2022

Document Type

Project

Degree Name

Master of Social Work

Department

School of Social Work

First Reader/Committee Chair

McAllister, Carolyn

Abstract

On March 13, 2020, the director of Services to Students with Disabilities came out of the office and stated the employees and students were not returning to school effective immediately due to the world’s shutdown over COVID-19. COVID-19 swiftly created panic causing toilet paper and water to be rationed, but who really took the time to think about how this would affect school-aged children and their families. How does shutting down in-person learning and household dynamics change when a disease taking the lives of almost a million people sweeps across the United States of America. Were parents ready to teach their children at home, and would their family survive on one income since mom or dad lost their job due to the closures of hundreds and thousands of facilities? What about the mom, dad, aunt, uncle, grandmother, grandfather, friend, cousin, or teacher who did not know COVID-19 would be the last thing they experience. Any one of these events has impacted every single person in this country. Now it is time to see the real impacts of COVID-19 now that we are trying to return to normalcy, and how we can move forward with a more effective plan to deal with a global pandemic. Findings related to this research include understanding stressors like anxiety, worry, lack of social interaction or social development, and the need for mental health services to supplement the effects of COVID-19 on school-aged children and their families. These findings are discussed in the context of Maslow’s Hierarchy of needs through research, and recommendations for social work practice.

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