AccScience Publishing / JCBP / Online First / DOI: 10.36922/jcbp.4221
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ORIGINAL RESEARCH ARTICLE

Online complementary interventions for the development of social communication in children during the early stage of the COVID-19 pandemic

Fusako Tomoto1,2 ,  Makoto Ota1,2 ,  Tomofusa Akita1 ,  Masanori Hariyama3 ,  Mamiko Koshiba1,2,3,4*
JCBP, 4221 https://doi.org/10.36922/jcbp.4221
Submitted: 12 July 2024 | Accepted: 6 August 2024 | Published: 17 October 2024
© 2024 by the Author(s). This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License ( https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ )
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Abstract

For elementary school children, engaging in diverse communication experiences with peers of varying ages during free play is crucial for developing social adaptability. However, the COVID-19 pandemic caused an unprecedented interruption to this learning process, as the new school year in Japan, which typically starts in April, began with widespread school closures. A novel intervention was implemented to address the ongoing societal constraints of the “stay-at-home” mandate and the uncertainty surrounding its duration. This intervention aimed to facilitate and promote peer communication while minimizing the risk of COVID-19 infection. It utilized then-unfamiliar Internet-based conferencing systems on Children’s Day, 1 month into the new school year. We explored two main analytical aspects to enhance the efficacy of this communication method: first, the types of play proposed by children that attracted the highest participation from unfamiliar peers; second, the duration of participation and communication, particularly regarding age and gender differences. Remarkably, despite only 2 days’ notice, 15 children aged 4 – 14 from five different, previously unknown communities located 1,000 km apart participated enthusiastically. In the first investigation, 12 types of play were introduced by the children. The most engaging activities included collaborative drawing on a shared online whiteboard and a scavenger hunt for specified objects. Notably, older children participated significantly longer in the online presenter’s activities, while younger children preferred to play within their own community. This study proposes that online conferencing can facilitate social interaction among children during pandemics. The intervention successfully fostered collaborative play among children of varying ages and from distant locations. In addition, the findings indicate the necessity to adjust the quality and focus of interventions based on age-specific psychological development. Further verification with more implementation examples and a larger participant pool is required.

Keywords
Online video conferencing
Play suggestion and participation
Intercultural communication
Playground
Social learning
Funding
Yamaguchi University, Tohoku University, and Saitama Medical University supported this study.
Conflict of interest
The authors declare that they have no conflicts of interest.
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Journal of Clinical and Basic Psychosomatics, Electronic ISSN: 2972-4414 Print ISSN: 3060-8562, Published by AccScience Publishing
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