Cargando…

Mental Health and Wellbeing of 9–12-year-old Children in Northern Canada Before the COVID-19 Pandemic and After the First Lockdown

Objectives: Children’s mental health and wellbeing declined during the first COVID-19 lockdown (Spring 2020), particularly among those from disadvantaged settings. We compared mental health and wellbeing of school-aged children observed pre-pandemic in 2018 and after the first lockdown was lifted an...

Descripción completa

Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales: Dabravolskaj, Julia, Khan, Mohammed K. A., Veugelers, Paul J., Maximova, Katerina
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Frontiers Media S.A. 2021
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8441596/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/34539323
http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/ijph.2021.1604219
_version_ 1783752900389896192
author Dabravolskaj, Julia
Khan, Mohammed K. A.
Veugelers, Paul J.
Maximova, Katerina
author_facet Dabravolskaj, Julia
Khan, Mohammed K. A.
Veugelers, Paul J.
Maximova, Katerina
author_sort Dabravolskaj, Julia
collection PubMed
description Objectives: Children’s mental health and wellbeing declined during the first COVID-19 lockdown (Spring 2020), particularly among those from disadvantaged settings. We compared mental health and wellbeing of school-aged children observed pre-pandemic in 2018 and after the first lockdown was lifted and schools reopened in Fall 2020. Methods: In 2018, we surveyed 476 grade 4–6 students (9–12 years old) from 11 schools in socioeconomically disadvantaged communities in Northern Canada that participate in a school-based health promotion program targeting healthy lifestyle behaviours and mental wellbeing. In November-December 2020, we surveyed 467 grade 4–6 students in the same schools. The 12 questions in the mental health and wellbeing domain were grouped based on correlation and examined using multivariable logistic regression. Results: There were no notable changes pre-pandemic vs. post-lockdown in responses to each of the 12 questions or any of the sub-groupings. Conclusion: Supporting schools to implement health promotion programs may help mitigate the impact of the pandemic on children’s mental health and wellbeing. The findings align with recent calls for schools to remain open as long as possible during the pandemic response.
format Online
Article
Text
id pubmed-8441596
institution National Center for Biotechnology Information
language English
publishDate 2021
publisher Frontiers Media S.A.
record_format MEDLINE/PubMed
spelling pubmed-84415962021-09-16 Mental Health and Wellbeing of 9–12-year-old Children in Northern Canada Before the COVID-19 Pandemic and After the First Lockdown Dabravolskaj, Julia Khan, Mohammed K. A. Veugelers, Paul J. Maximova, Katerina Int J Public Health Public Health Archive Objectives: Children’s mental health and wellbeing declined during the first COVID-19 lockdown (Spring 2020), particularly among those from disadvantaged settings. We compared mental health and wellbeing of school-aged children observed pre-pandemic in 2018 and after the first lockdown was lifted and schools reopened in Fall 2020. Methods: In 2018, we surveyed 476 grade 4–6 students (9–12 years old) from 11 schools in socioeconomically disadvantaged communities in Northern Canada that participate in a school-based health promotion program targeting healthy lifestyle behaviours and mental wellbeing. In November-December 2020, we surveyed 467 grade 4–6 students in the same schools. The 12 questions in the mental health and wellbeing domain were grouped based on correlation and examined using multivariable logistic regression. Results: There were no notable changes pre-pandemic vs. post-lockdown in responses to each of the 12 questions or any of the sub-groupings. Conclusion: Supporting schools to implement health promotion programs may help mitigate the impact of the pandemic on children’s mental health and wellbeing. The findings align with recent calls for schools to remain open as long as possible during the pandemic response. Frontiers Media S.A. 2021-09-01 /pmc/articles/PMC8441596/ /pubmed/34539323 http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/ijph.2021.1604219 Text en Copyright © 2021 Dabravolskaj, Khan, Veugelers and Maximova. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
spellingShingle Public Health Archive
Dabravolskaj, Julia
Khan, Mohammed K. A.
Veugelers, Paul J.
Maximova, Katerina
Mental Health and Wellbeing of 9–12-year-old Children in Northern Canada Before the COVID-19 Pandemic and After the First Lockdown
title Mental Health and Wellbeing of 9–12-year-old Children in Northern Canada Before the COVID-19 Pandemic and After the First Lockdown
title_full Mental Health and Wellbeing of 9–12-year-old Children in Northern Canada Before the COVID-19 Pandemic and After the First Lockdown
title_fullStr Mental Health and Wellbeing of 9–12-year-old Children in Northern Canada Before the COVID-19 Pandemic and After the First Lockdown
title_full_unstemmed Mental Health and Wellbeing of 9–12-year-old Children in Northern Canada Before the COVID-19 Pandemic and After the First Lockdown
title_short Mental Health and Wellbeing of 9–12-year-old Children in Northern Canada Before the COVID-19 Pandemic and After the First Lockdown
title_sort mental health and wellbeing of 9–12-year-old children in northern canada before the covid-19 pandemic and after the first lockdown
topic Public Health Archive
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8441596/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/34539323
http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/ijph.2021.1604219
work_keys_str_mv AT dabravolskajjulia mentalhealthandwellbeingof912yearoldchildreninnortherncanadabeforethecovid19pandemicandafterthefirstlockdown
AT khanmohammedka mentalhealthandwellbeingof912yearoldchildreninnortherncanadabeforethecovid19pandemicandafterthefirstlockdown
AT veugelerspaulj mentalhealthandwellbeingof912yearoldchildreninnortherncanadabeforethecovid19pandemicandafterthefirstlockdown
AT maximovakaterina mentalhealthandwellbeingof912yearoldchildreninnortherncanadabeforethecovid19pandemicandafterthefirstlockdown