Vancouver – A new online survey by researchers at BC Children’s Hospital, the University of British Columbia (UBC) and Simon Fraser University (SFU) aims to better understand how the COVID-19 pandemic has impacted the mental health of children, youth, adults and parents.
“Across B.C., many young people and their families are feeling the added stress, anxiety and depression brought on by COVID-19,” says Sheila Malcolmson, Minister of Mental Health and Addictions.
Study co-leads Dr. S. Evelyn Stewart, director of psychiatry research at BC Children’s, and Dr. Hasina Samji, an affiliate investigator with BC Children’s and assistant professor with SFU’s faculty of health sciences, want to gauge how the pandemic affects people’s feelings, thoughts and actions over time, to learn how they manage and what resources they find helpful.
All children and youth over the age of seven are invited to fill in a 20-30-minute online survey about their experiences. Parents are asked to share the experiences of one or all of their children, which takes an additional 20 minutes per child. The researchers are keen to hear directly from young people, whose voices have been missing so far from the conversation. They would also especially like to hear from families and young people from underserved and under-represented communities.
With the official launch of the survey, researchers are hoping for a minimum of 3,000 respondents. The survey is open to everyone, everywhere, with the greatest focus on residents of B.C. and families with children and teens.
Learn more:
- To learn more about the Personal Impacts of COVID-19 Survey visit: http://bcchr.info/38dN97J
- Kelty Mental Health Resource Centre: https://keltymentalhealth.ca
- Anxiety Canada: https://www.anxietycanada.com
- Child Mind Institute: https://childmind.org