Impact of the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic on social problems care. The view of the pediatricians

Objectives: to assess the impact of the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic on caring for social problems, as well as the changes that occurred in interprofessional and family communication.

Methods: data were collected from 407 professionals using a validated questionnaire. Binomial contrast was used to assess responses to the hypotheses, Pearson's correlation coefficient to see if responses were influenced by age and Mann-Whitney U to assess if responses were influenced by gender, level of care, centre setting, professional profile or degree of specialisation.

Results: confinement did not improve family relationships, but did increase the number of family consultations for social problems and problems with new technology. There was an improvement in communication between professionals. In the overall sample, the improvement in communication with families did not reach statistical significance, but it did in the subgroups of professionals working in rural areas, in primary care and in older professional. The impact on gender-based violence prevention and awareness programmes was also significant.

Conclusions: the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic had a significant impact on attention to social problems. From a professional point of view, no improvement in family relationships was observed. The measures taken to deal with it have improved communication between professionals.