Updates

COVID-19 will have significant mental health consequences for B.C. children and youth, according to a report authored by the Children’s Health Policy Centre and released Nov. 12/20.

The report concludes that the pandemic creates a critical need for government to invest in B.C.’s over-stretched and underfunded child and youth mental health services system.

Sponsored by the BC Office of the Representative for Children and Youth, the report reviews several studies on mental health outcomes for children and youth after earlier pandemics and natural disasters. This research identifies the mental health challenges children and youth can be expected to experience during and after COVID-19, including anxiety, post-traumatic stress, depression and behavioural problems.

The report indicates that because untreated mental health problems can persist, even extending into adulthood if left untreated, supports for children and youth will significantly reduce future costs.

The report also finds that some children and youth may be disproportionately affected, including those with neuro-diverse needs, pre-existing mental health conditions, youth in foster care and those affected by adversities such as socioeconomic disadvantage and racism. It also finds that COVID-19 may particularly affect Indigenous peoples, who disproportionately experience harms related to colonialism such as unsafe housing, lack of access to clean water and extreme food insecurity – conditions that the report recognizes as putting children’s mental health at risk.

“This report underlines the importance of addressing mental health issues in the early stages,” says Representative for Children and Youth Jennifer Charlesworth. “The data indicates that children do well when their communities have more socioeconomic resources… Clearly, community and family health play significant roles in child and youth mental health, and that is what we need to be supporting.”

Families who were in more precarious economic situations before COVID-19 are now facing many added difficulties, according to Charlotte Waddell, director of the Children’s Health Policy Centre and the lead author of the report.

“We found that children who experience socioeconomic inequalities are much more likely to develop emotional and behavioural concerns,” says Waddell. “The pandemic has the potential to amplify inequalities – in turn putting less advantaged children at even greater risk for mental health concerns.”

The full report may be found here.

The COVID-19 public health crisis has introduced new and urgent mental health challenges for children across British Columbia.

As a result, the BC Representative for Children and Youth, Jennifer Charlesworth,  asked the Children’s Health Policy Centre (CHPC) to prepare a “Rapid Response” report on effective approaches for reducing childhood anxiety.

Published today, the report identifies two interventions that can be delivered by practitioners virtually and three that can be self-administered by children and families themselves.

“We know it is crucial to address anxiety symptoms and disorders early to ensure they don’t persist into adulthood,” Charlesworth said. “Help cannot wait until the pandemic is over.”

Nearly 45,000 children in B.C. were estimated to have anxiety disorders, before COVID-19, according to Charlotte Waddell, director of the CHPC. “Our new report confirms there are many effective ways for practitioners, caregivers and families to prevent and reduce anxiety during these challenging times,” she said.

Read the entire report here.

The scientific team guiding the BC Healthy Connections Project has published an update. The project is a randomized controlled trial evaluating the Nurse-Family Partnership program, involving 739 BC-based girls and young women — and their 744 children. The update may be viewed here.

Following last year’s publication of data describing maternal participants and the life conditions they were coping with in early pregnancy, the team is now analyzing initial data on the effectiveness of the nurse-visitation program. A first findings report will soon be released — examining the program’s impact on prenatal substance use. Further findings reports will follow in 2020-2022.

As well, some 27% of project participants identified as Indigenous (including First Nations, Métis or Inuit). The scientific team is collaborating with the First Nations Health Authority to produce publications telling their stories.

The scientific team expects to provide an additional update every quarter until March 2022.

The Faculty of Health Sciences at Simon Fraser University has created a brief video offering parents advice on how to help children cope with COVID-19.

The video features Charlotte Waddell, director of the Children’s Health Policy Centre, who says that physical distancing doesn’t have to mean loss of connections.

She suggests that parents help children by:

• Getting help themselves when needed to manage stress and to help kids maintain healthy routines
• Encouraging kids to stay connected with friends and family using social networks and the phone
• Remembering how COVID19 affects some children and families more than others
• Thinking of ways to be helping others, which in turn contributes to resilience

“Social connections are crucial for children, as they are for adults,” Waddell says. For more information on specific steps parents and caregivers can take to support kids in the time of COVID-19, go here.