More than 70% of teens report worse mental health compared to before COVID: survey | Globalnews.ca

The Alberta Medical Association is concerned about “deeply troubling” survey results showing a worsening of the mental health of children in the province.

“It was not a surprise because we’ve been seeing it clinically. The mental health concerns in all ages has really escalated throughout the pandemic,” Dr. Vesta Michelle Warren, AMA president, said.

“What was surprising was the severity, particularly in the teen population.”

According to a survey from the AMA conducted via albertapatients.ca, 77 per cent of parents reported the mental health of their child aged 15 and older is “worse” compared to before the COVID-19 pandemic.

Four-in-ten parents of older teens said their child’s mental health is “much worse” today.

“The study itself showed, the older the child was, the more likely they were to have had a negative impact on their mental health throughout the course of the pandemic,” Warren said.

For children between the ages of six and 14, 70 per cent of parents reported their child’s mental health is “worse” than before the pandemic. One half of parents with kids under the age of six also reported some mental health declines in their children.

Warren said during the pandemic, children lost access to natural outlets for stress and anxiety — such as sports and after-school activities, and instead spent more time on screens.

“When I speak to some of my pediatrician friends, they really see the internet, social media and this ubiquitous use of computers — whether it be a cell phone or iPad or computer itself — as really being one of the big problems with respect to the mental health issues that we’re seeing right now,” Warren said.

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Access to mental health resources

Warren said the pandemic has made the process of accessing mental health resources for children more difficult.

“It’s gotten worse for sure to try and link people in it and especially to get them linked in a timely fashion,” she said. “It may be months before they’re actually seen and sometimes that’s too long.”

“I’ve heard of cases where we’ve started that referral process to see somebody and the child becomes an adult before they’re seen by the pediatric psychiatrist — and now the wait starts all over again.”

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As for solutions, Warren said Alberta needs to recruit and retain child psychiatrists, consider out-of-the-box ways to treat children, and improve funding.

“When it comes to kids, costs should not be an issue.”

“I think we need to be spending the money on our kids now, to make sure they’re as healthy as they can be so that when they’re adults, they can lead the way and be there for their own kids down the road.”

She said Alberta should consider offering virtual group therapy sessions as a potential solution to increase the access to specialists.

On Tuesday, the Alberta Government posted its Alberta Child and Youth Well-being Action Plan online, addressing the 10 recommendations made by the Child and Youth Well-being Report. The plan includes expanding of mental health and behavioural supports in schools.

The health minister’s press secretary Steve Buick said in a statement the government is aware of the impact the pandemic has had on children’s mental health.

“Given the strain on kids from school closures and other restrictions, unfortunately we’re seeing a big increase in mental health concerns among kids, and a big increase in demands on kids’ mental health professionals of all kinds,” Buick said.

“We’ve tried to learn from that and reduce the burden of restrictions on kids as we’ve moved through the pandemic, because it’s clear that the burden on kids is so much heavier than on adults (and the risk to them from COVID is less, although it can still be serious). We resisted closing schools in the last wave and we firmly believe that was the right choice.”

The online survey fielded by the albertapatients.ca online research panel was conducted from May 4 to 14, with a sample size (have children at home) of n=713.

More to come…