Social-emotional situation of children and young people after the coronavirus pandemic (SENSOR 2.0)

In April 2022, we conducted a study on the psychosocial situation of primary school children after the corona pandemic in cooperation with the school district 3 of the city of Cologne. The core results showed an unexpectedly high proportion of children with externalising and internalising psychosocial problems. Around 31% of the children had strong fears about the future due to the coronavirus pandemic and the war in Ukraine that emerged in spring 2022. 48% of the children perceived increased aggression, and the proportion of children with anxiety and depressive symptoms was also higher than expected. A detailed overview of the results of the SENSOR 1.0 study can be found here.

It is unclear what the situation is like two years after the supposed end of the coronavirus pandemic and the lifting of all restrictions in the school environment. This question is the focus of the follow-up project SENSOR 2.0.

Design and research question of the SENSOR project

The project is designed as a cross-sectional study. Similar to the SENSOR 1.0 project, data on the psychosocial situation of primary school children will be collected. Data will be collected from the pupils' perspective (approx. 50 minutes of data collection time), from the teachers' perspective (approx. 10 minutes of data collection time) and from the parents' perspective (approx. 10 minutes of data collection time). All surveys are conducted online via Limesurvey. The particular challenge in the project is to record the data for each class as completely as possible - i.e. to have information on each child from all three perspectives (child, parent and teacher perspective).

Who can take part in the SENSOR 2.0 project?

The SENSOR 2.0 project survey is already underway! Student participation is therefore no longer possible.

What is expected of students?

All project participants are expected to work independently and with commitment. Specifically, we expect

• Participation in 4-5 research colloquia with compulsory attendance between October 2023 and May 2024 (probably on Tuesdays at 16:00 via Zoom - first information meeting on organisational framework conditions on 24.10.23 at 16:00)
• Participation in a more intensive introduction to the content (probably at the beginning of November 2023, date to follow)
• Participation in the test management training in (probably in January 2024, date to follow)
• Acquisition of primary school classes at levels 3 or 4 (see below for the number of classes)
• Informing parents (usually via information letters, including obtaining parental consent forms) and teachers
• Independent organisation of digital data collection in the class via Limesurvey between 01.03.24 and 30.05.24
• Independent working style, flexibility and commitment

Please understand that we are not flexible with the dates for the research colloquia. So please make sure that you have time for about 60-90 minutes on Tuesdays between 16:00 and 18:00. All sessions are currently scheduled via Zoom. It is possible to use a room in the FMM building for the Zoom meetings.

Depending on the qualification objective, the survey effort is determined as follows:

• BA thesis: 4 classes
• Research project: 2 classes
• MA thesis: 6 classes

In this project, it is possible to combine the MA thesis and the research project.

The data is collected on the schools' own end devices. In the SENSOR 1.0 project, all schools carried out the survey independently and no supervision from the university was required at the time. As the type and scope of the survey in SENSOR 2.0 is comparable, we expect that only a few schools will require active support for the survey this time as well. The main challenge in this project is to ensure the organisation and flow of information in order to obtain data sets that are as complete as possible. As in SENSOR 1.0, the schools will each receive a report on the situation of the class (at class level, no individual data).

Simultaneous survey

Due to the comparatively low amount of data collected per qualification paper, it is clear that individual students would only have very little data available for their own analyses. For this reason, we summarise all the data collected in the SENSOR 2.0 project so that all students can access a larger data set together. To ensure that all project participants can access the data as early as possible and start analysing it, it is important that the data collection is completed by the end of May 2024 (preferably earlier).

Your advantages

• Support in developing your own questions for your qualification work based on the data collected jointly in the project
• Discussion of organisational and content-related questions as part of the research colloquia or during consultation hours
• Information on research materials as part of the research colloquia
• Provision of the complete online survey for all three groups (pupils, parents, teachers) via Limesurvey
• No data entry required thanks to digital data collection

How can I take part?

• All students can register for the information session via the following survey https://umfrage.uni-wuppertal.de/index.php/412961?lang=de
• If you have any questions, please contact eseteam@uni-wuppertal.de
• You will then receive the Zoom link for the info session by e-mail
• Compulsory attendance at the first information session (24.10.23, 17:15)
• Your decision by 31.10.2023 (by email to eseteam@uni-wuppertal.de)
• Discussion of the next steps in the first research colloquium (date on 14/11/2023 at 16:00)

Important: There are currently no places available in the SENSOR 2.0 project!

For questions

Email: eseteam@uni-wuppertal.de or in the office hours of Prof. Huber.