In September 2020, the Children’s Health Policy Centre at SFU published “COVID-19 and the Impact on Children’s Mental Health” to assist policymakers in assessing the social, educational and economic costs faced by B.C. children during the pandemic and in supporting children through mental health consequences. The findings report dramatic increases in rates of anxiety, post-traumatic stress, depression and behavioural challenges compared to the general population of children, as well as disproportionate challenges in socioeconomically disadvantaged populations. This report recommends providing additional necessary prevention and treatment services, ensuring public investments go towards effective interventions, preventing avoidable childhood adversities including by reducing socioeconomic disparities and tracking child outcomes.
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Offer proven children’s mental health interventions
Recommendation 2: Numerous interventions have been tested covering the span of children’s mental health problems. Effective prevention approaches have been delineated for most, and effective treatments have been delineated for all. For the specific problems expected to increase due to COVID-19 — namely childhood anxiety, depression, behavioural problems and posttraumatic stress — there is ample research evidence on effective prevention and treatment options that have been evaluated using rigorous measures in randomized controlled trials (RCTs) with children. (Although RCTs provide the best evidence on intervention effectiveness, they also have important limitations, including underrepresenting Indigenous Peoples as well as Indigenous Methods and perspectives.) […] As well, interventions like cognitive-behavioural therapy and parent training can be culturally enriched and adapted with input, for example, from Indigenous communities. At the same time, ineffective or unproven options should not be supported during COVID-19, or at any time.-
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