TY - JOUR
T1 - Evaluating the psychosocial status of BC children and youth during the COVID-19 pandemic
T2 - A MyHEARTSMAP cross-sectional study
AU - Woodward, Melissa L.
AU - Hossain, Abrar
AU - Chun, Alaina
AU - Liu, Cindy
AU - Kilyk, Kaitlyn
AU - Bone, Jeffrey N.
AU - Meckler, Garth
AU - Black, Tyler
AU - Stewart, S. Evelyn
AU - Samji, Hasina
AU - Barbic, Skye
AU - Doan, Quynh
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2023 Woodward et al.
PY - 2023/3
Y1 - 2023/3
N2 - Background Understanding the psychosocial status of children and adolescents during the COVID-19 pandemic is vital to the appropriate and adequate allocation of social supports and mental health resources. This study evaluates the burden of mental health concerns and the impact of demographic factors while tracking mental health service recommendations to inform community service needs. Methods MyHEARTSMAP is a digital self-assessment mental health evaluation completed by children and their guardian throughout British Columbia between August 2020 to July 2021. Severity of mental health concerns was evaluated across psychiatric, social, functioning, and youth health domains. Proportional odds modelling evaluated the impact of demographic factors on severity. Recommendations for support services were provided based on the evaluation. Results We recruited 541 families who completed 424 psychosocial assessments on individual children. Some degree of difficulty across the psychiatric, social, or functional domains was reported for more than half of children and adolescents. Older youth and those not attending any formal school or education program were more likely to report greater psychiatric difficulty. Girls experienced greater social concerns, and children attending full-time school at- home were more likely to identify difficulty within the youth health domain but were not more likely to have psychiatric difficulties. Considerations to access community mental health service were triggered in the majority (74%) of cases. Conclusions Psychosocial concerns are highly prevalent amongst children and adolescents during the COVID-19 pandemic. Based on identified needs of this cohort, additional community health supports are required, particularly for higher risk groups.
AB - Background Understanding the psychosocial status of children and adolescents during the COVID-19 pandemic is vital to the appropriate and adequate allocation of social supports and mental health resources. This study evaluates the burden of mental health concerns and the impact of demographic factors while tracking mental health service recommendations to inform community service needs. Methods MyHEARTSMAP is a digital self-assessment mental health evaluation completed by children and their guardian throughout British Columbia between August 2020 to July 2021. Severity of mental health concerns was evaluated across psychiatric, social, functioning, and youth health domains. Proportional odds modelling evaluated the impact of demographic factors on severity. Recommendations for support services were provided based on the evaluation. Results We recruited 541 families who completed 424 psychosocial assessments on individual children. Some degree of difficulty across the psychiatric, social, or functional domains was reported for more than half of children and adolescents. Older youth and those not attending any formal school or education program were more likely to report greater psychiatric difficulty. Girls experienced greater social concerns, and children attending full-time school at- home were more likely to identify difficulty within the youth health domain but were not more likely to have psychiatric difficulties. Considerations to access community mental health service were triggered in the majority (74%) of cases. Conclusions Psychosocial concerns are highly prevalent amongst children and adolescents during the COVID-19 pandemic. Based on identified needs of this cohort, additional community health supports are required, particularly for higher risk groups.
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U2 - 10.1371/journal.pone.0281083
DO - 10.1371/journal.pone.0281083
M3 - Article
C2 - 37000793
AN - SCOPUS:85151388396
SN - 1932-6203
VL - 18
JO - PloS one
JF - PloS one
IS - 3 MARCH
M1 - e0281083
ER -