How to help kids cope with stress during pandemic

Depression, anxiety are on the rise, says Salima Meherali.

COVID-19 marked a life-changing event for everyone's life from mid-march 2020 onward. There is no doubt that the pandemic poses some serious physical restrictions and social distancing that affected each and every domain of life. Mental health was among the most highlighted domain affecting every individual.

However, the impact of COVID-19 on the mental health of children and adolescents is of great concern. Depression and anxiety are the most common mental health concerns specifically in the population of children and adolescents. Why is that so? Physical gathering and outdoor games are a few of the coping strategies for young children to cope with all their stressors.

The environment of households these days is difficult for anyone, anyway, and since the brains of individuals in this population are still in the growing phase, the social isolation restricts them in getting the required emotional stability. The pandemic has led to a wave of fear and threat among every population, including children and adolescents, which also affects psychological well-being. Sadly, the mental health impact is not reported in a positive direction. All of the psychological concerns are quite alarming.

As an assistant nursing professor at the University of Alberta, I conducted a knowledge-synthesis study to identify the impact of the pandemic on children's and adolescents' mental health. The findings from this review shed light on the significant impact of pandemics on the mental health of children and adolescents.

The results are overwhelming and demonstrate that pandemics are precursors to mental health decline. Specifically, impairments in mental health leave children and adolescents with increased emotional stress, feelings of helplessness and fear, which can evolve into mental illnesses such as anxiety, depression

The pandemic has led to a wave of fear and threat among every population.

and post-traumatic stress symptoms.

The consequences of the decline in mental health in young populations led to engagement in unhealthy behaviours such as substance abuse, absenteeism from work and school interruptions. These results demonstrate that pandemics markedly contribute to a wide breadth of negative mental health consequences for children and adolescents, which establishes the critical need to explore effective strategies to promote positive mental health during pandemics.

My team and I came up with some solutions for the problems we identified in the study. Here are a few:

Children and adolescents should be informed about pandemic situations. Parents, teachers, and health care providers should communicate with young children in an age-appropriate manner by using simple terminologies about COVID-19. Children need to be given fact-based information with the help of presentations and video material provided by authorized international organizations like WHO and UNICEF or government resources which have been tailor-made especially for children. Communication has to be more open and non-directive with adolescents, as they are expected to have better knowledge about COVID-19 compared with young children.

Also, efforts should be made so that a consistent routine is followed by children and adolescents during school closure, with enough opportunities to play, read, rest and engage in physical activity. It is recommended that families play board games and engage in indoor sports activities with their children to avoid longer durations of video games. Excessive internet use, such as internet surfing related to COVID-19, should be avoided, as it results in anxiety. There is a need for more virtual mental well-being programs to mitigate significant Covid-19-related mental health crises in children and adolescents.

Children and adolescents are probably more likely to experience high rates of depression, and probably anxiety, during and after a pandemic. Clinical services should offer preventive support and early intervention where possible and be prepared for an increase in mental health problems.