The role of parents in shaping the school age children’s behavior regarding the prevention of COVID-19 transmission

Background: The COVID-19 pandemic has had both physical and psychological impacts on school-age children. Objective: This study aimed to analyze the impact of the roles of parents on the behaviour of school-age children in preventing the transmission of COVID-19. Methods: This cross-sectional study used a random sampling technique that collected a sample of 346 parents. The survey was carried out by distributing questionnaires to the samples with school-age children 6-12 years. Results: The simple linear regression test proved that the roles had a significant relationship with the behaviour of school-age children in preventing the transmission of COVID-19 (p-value <0.000; r = 0.478; Adjusted R2 = 22.6). Multiple linear regression analysis showed that the most influential role on the behavior of school-age children was physical wellbeing (p-value = 0.001; r = 0.194) and intellectual wellbeing (p-value = <0.000; r = 0.369) with an Adjusted R2 of 24.2%. Conclusion: The roles of parents, especially physical and intellectual wellbeing, significantly impacted the behaviour of school-age children in preventing the transmission of COVID-19. The nursing professionals are challenged to optimize the role of parents in shaping the behaviour to prevent the transmission of COVID-19 in school-age children