Vulnerability in Children and Young People; 
the effects of the pandemic online and offline

Identifying vulnerabilities 
and introducing resources 
and strategies to 
increase resilience

Overview

The pandemic situation with Covid 19 had huge impacts for everyone, but it was potentially particularly impactful for vulnerable children. My research looked at those impacts and the challenges faced for vulnerable children in a world were isolation and online interaction  increased.

Research

Aimed at identifying factors of vulnerability and instigation of procedures to reduce risk and increase resilience

 

Publications


Wilson, M (2023) " Digital Access Inequality among Vulnerable Children and Young People: Did the pandemic cause a snowball effect?” in Hayes, S., Jopling, M., Connor, S., & Johnson, M. (Eds.) (2023). Human Data Interaction, Disadvantage and Skills in the Community: Enabling Cross-Sector Environments for Postdigital Inclusion. Cham: Springer. (Forthcoming)


Wilson M & Perez Vallejos, E (2021) The Role of Neuroscience in the Effects of Adverse Childhood Experiences in Relation to Risk Taking, with Specific Reference to Risk Assessment During a Pandemic, a Review of the Literature


ACTO Conference June 2021 "What can we learn, from the pandemic, about closing the digital divide for Children and Young People needing mental health interventions."


3 Min presentation May 2012 " Vulnerability, Lockdown & the Pandemic; The effects on Children & Young People"


LTS Conference April 2021 Less can be more- Telling your story through Zoom; observations on power dynamics in story-telling with Children and Young people during therapeutic interventions through the pandemic."


Exploring how Component Factors and their Uncertainty Affect Judgements of Risk in Cyber-Security

Outreach

Contact me for talks, activities and other interactions to bring this research to the public, including online meetings, seminars and workshops.

Recent outreach workshops:-

The effects of online activities on families, during the pandemic. Exploring the Pros & Cons

The effects of loss in a pandemic.

Professionals

Working with those in contact with vulnerable children.

Solutions

As the work progresses it is envisaged that resources and strategies will be formulated and available for use to promote resilience and reduce vulnerability in children.

Outcomes & Dissemination

The Digital divide - Children & Young People 


The study on Children & Young People's access to the internet showed a digital divide between the most and least vulnerable CYP  in the UK.


Published in

Wilson, M (2023) " Digital Access Inequality among Vulnerable Children and Young People: Did the pandemic cause a snowball effect?” in Hayes, S., Jopling, M., Connor, S., & Johnson, M. (Eds.) (2023). Human Data Interaction, Disadvantage and Skills in the Community: Enabling Cross-Sector Environments for Postdigital Inclusion. Cham: Springer. (Forthcoming)

The loss of protective factors for Children and Young People in the pandemic


The study on Children & Young People's contact with family, friends and social networks during the pandemic showed that all CYP had reduced contact with protective factors such as  family, friends, clubs, sports  and religious groups.


This was despite recommendations to governments about ensuring that such contacts were promoted via digital means, CYP's contact with clubs, sports  and religious groups dropped dramatically and very little online interaction was provided. CYP did tend to maintain the highest level of contact with their friends and cousins, but were unhappy with the loss on in person contact.


For many CYP contact with their grandparents was not maintained once the UK went into lockdown.



Contact Us

We’d love to hear from you. Call us now at 0116 260 0020 or send a message using the form below we’ll get back to you as soon as we can.

Share by: