Effect of the COVID-19 lockdown on sleep regulation in young children

Are you a parent and caregiver of children younger than 6 years of age?

We invite you to participate in a research project about children’s sleep during the COVID-19 lock-down period. To complete this survey takes about 20 minutes and is voluntary.

Who is behind this project ?

This research is conducted by scientists of the Baby Sleep Laboratory (Psychological Department, University of Fribourg, and University Hospital Zurich, Switzerland).

What is the goal of this project?

The aim of this project is to investigate if the COVID-19 lock-down affects the sleep of young children. The current pandemic is challenging to some of our daily activities. When we stay indoors for a long period of time, we lose some environmental time-keepers. This can influence the daily routines and affect sleep patterns of families.

Who can participate?

Parents who are the primary caregivers of children younger than 6 years of age.

How does my contribution help?

You will not have any medical benefits from participating in this study. However, benefits will be to mankind rather than to the individual. Better understanding of developmental processes will be obtained and this information may lead to better overall understanding of factors affecting vulnerable periods of maturation.

Sleep regulation is important for health. This extraordinary situation allows us to further understand the role sleep plays in health. Any piece of information can therefore be supportive to develop guidelines for healthy sleep, which ultimately supports health in the long-term.

Risks

This study does not include any risk.

What happens to my data?

The data collected with this survey does not allow any conclusions to be drawn about personal information. Personal information will be separated from data for analysis. Contact information is stored separately from data and needed to match the data of people who agree to fill out the questionnaire at several time points. Data are stored on a protected University server. All members of the research team who have access to the data are strictly bound to confidentiality.

This project is conducted according to Swiss law. Participants can withdraw from the study at any time, without negative consequences.

Contact

Baby Sleep Laboratory

Type of household:

How strongly does the COVID-19 pandemic affect your ...

Not affected
Affected a lot
... working arrangements?
Not affected
Affected a lot
... childcare arrangements?
Not affected
Affected a lot

Beginning of your lockdown: When has the biggest change happened for you, e.g. start of home office, stop of regular work, end of childcare / school, etc (if not sure, estimate)?

day/month/year, e.g 22.03.2020

How many children are living in the household that are younger than 3 years (below 36 months old)?:

How many children are living in the household that are between 3 and 6 years old (36 to 71 months old)?: