Informing citizens about changing the form of providing early care services to children and their families in the situation of the covid-19 pandemic in the Russian federation

Authors:

Kogan Zlata Vsevolodovna, junior researcher of the Department of early care for children and their families, Institute of Early Care and Assistance, Albrecht Federal Scientific Centre of Rehabilitation of the Disabled, 50 Bestuzhevskaya Street, 195067 St. Petersburg, Russian Federation, e-mail: vinzlata@yandex.ru

Lorer Viktoria Valerevna, PhD in Psychology, Head of the Department of early care for children and their families, Institute of Early Care and Assistance, Albrecht Federal Scientific Centre of Rehabilitation of the Disabled, 50 Bestuzhevskaya Street, 195067 St. Petersburg, Russian Federation; Associate Professor of the Department of General and Clinical Psychology, Pavlov First St. Petersburg State Medical University, 6–8 L’va Tolstogo Street, 197022 St. Petersburg, Russian Federation, e-mail: lorer@list.ru

Annotation:

Introduction. Since the announcement of the WHO pandemic in connection with the spread of the new coronavirus infection COVID-19, as well as the announcement of quarantine measures on the territory of the Russian Federation, early care services throughout the country have changed the mode of providing services to families, making the transition to a remote form of work.

The aim of the study was to evaluate changes in the mode of operation of early care services, presented on the websites of social protection organizations that provide early care services to children and their families in the constituent entities of the Russian Federation. The availability and completeness of information for citizens in need of early care services, the level of informing citizens about the infection caused by COVID-19, as the main reason for the forced transition to remote work, were evaluated. We also evaluated the ways in which we could provide feedback to the specialists and agencies responsible for providing early care services.

Materials and methods. Information retrieval systems Yandex and Google were used to collect data, at the request “regional resource center for early assistance / early assistance services” in each of the 85 constituent entities of the Russian Federation. Based on the ranking of the results, the most relevant links were selected with a direct link to the website of the regional institution providing early care services, or news articles on the topic with the opportunity to visit the official website of the organization.

Results and discussion. In 12 out of 85 subjects, both search engines were unable to provide links to early care websites. Information on restrictive measures due to the unfavorable epidemiological situation and the spread of the COVID-19 virus is available on 41 sites. Most often, after the announcement of the closure or the transition to a remote form of work, organizations provided a hotline for citizens of this subject of the Russian Federation.
Among 41 websites, 4 websites do not provide information about contacts and how to contact them. Telephone consultations on early care services were offered on 21 out of 41 sites; only one site had a consultation on a form to fill out for feedback. On 15 sites there is complete information about the epidemiological situation, hotline numbers, the possibility of consulting children and parents remotely. Of these, 2 regions (St. Petersburg and the Krasnoyarsk Territory) offer training and advanced training for specialists providing early care services online.

Conclusion. Of the 85 subjects, 73 have regional early childhood services websites. Information for citizens on changing the operating mode of organizations in the situation of the COVID-19 pandemic is presented on 41 websites. The information on the remaining pages is 32 sites, rarely updated or the pages are no longer maintained by organizations.
It should also be noted that contextual search systems cannot guarantee strict satisfaction of the user’s information needs as a result of performing search queries. Informing citizens about early care for children and their families in the constituent entities of the Russian Federation, including through Internet resources, is one of the indicators of the quality of early care services.

List of cited literature:

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2. Metodicheskie rekomendacii po organizacii rannej pomoshchi [Methodological recommendations for organizing early assistance] Available at: https:// mintrud.gov.ru/docs/mintrud/handicapped/274 (accessed 11.12.2020). (In Russian).

3. Rannyaya pomoshch’ detyam i ih sem’yam: teoreticheskie i organizacionno-metodicheskie osnovy: Metodicheskoe posobie [Early assistance to children and their families: theoretical and organizational and methodological foundations: Methodological guide]. Starobina EM, Lorer VV, Vladimirova ON; ed. Ponomarenko GN. St. Petersburg: LLC «TSIATSAN»; 2020. 144 p. : p. 90-95 (87). (In Russian).

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