A new report from public health warns the pandemic impacted children in a way that could affect the community for “decades to come.”
“There were cascading effects of the COVID-19 criss that led to downstream impacts of (children’s) well-being,” said Lyndsey Dossett, health promotion specialist with Wellington-Dufferin-Guelph Public Health during Wednesday’s board meeting.
She said society has grown used to hearing about the primary impacts when it comes to COVID-19, such as case counts and hospitalization rates, “but these direct impacts of the pandemic are only part of the story.”
Secondary impacts refer to changes in individuals and communities related to living through a pandemic and the measures taken to control it. They’re “far reaching and complex, and have the potential to affect our community for years to come,” she said.
Across the province, children’s mental health and behaviour has seen a decline, with more children experiencing lower levels of optimism, lower life satisfaction, higher sadness, more depressive symptoms, increased levels of anxiety and thoughts of suicidal ideation, according to recent findings from Public Health Ontario.
There were also more doctor’s office visits for mental health reasons during the pandemic, especially for pediatric eating disorders.
Students were found to be less engaged in their schoolwork and had heightened school-related stress. They also experienced a decrease in physical activity, increased sedentary behaviour, and increased food insecurity.
Local children and adolescents experienced similar detrimental impacts to their mental and physical, the report from WDGPH states.
Collecting data and meeting with community organizations and youth, public health found an increase in mental health challenges among youth when comparing 2019 to 2022, with the largest increases involving eating issues, distraction, psychological distress and body image.
There were also decreases in positive mental health, including in self-esteem, coping and feeling hopeful about the future.
The survey found that in 2022, one in five WDG students harmed themselves in the past year – an 18 per cent increase from 2019. Likewise, one in six students in the region reported thoughts of suicide in 2021 – a 25 per cent increase from 2019.
The community has also seen an increase in children and youth accessing mental health and addictions services.
Food insecurity increased as well, with 25 per cent of Ontarians under 18 experiencing food insecurity.
So what exactly does the pandemic have to do with all this?
For one, school closures meant students couldn’t access nutrition programs or counselling. Isolation also meant they were more exposed to family violence and poor coping strategies.
The pandemic also led to more screen time for children and youth; WDG saw a 23 per cent increase in students reporting three or more hours of daily screen time outside of school. Excessive screen time, the report states, can lead to loss of sleep and neglected homework. Social media can also contribute to body image concerns, disordered eating and poor mental health.
Similarly, fewer children and youth were involved in extracurriculars in 2022 compared to 2019, due to the pandemic limiting extracurricular options and increased screen time. Rates of physical activity were lower, too.
“What we’re seeing is really an overall negative impact on mental health,” said Medical Officer of Health Dr. Nicola Mercer.
“Especially with those who were in high school, for example.”
She said that with the last few years of closures, previous high school students now moving into university aren’t as they should be for that type of workload.
“We’re going to see other impacts and potentially children not achieving their full educational potential,” she said.
Recommendations to address these impacts include working with community partners to develop clear pathways for youth to access mental health and addictions services in the community, promoting early identification of mental health concerns and building resiliency in children and youth.
Promoting screen time guidelines, collecting data on digital consumption and social media behaviours of local youth, and creating more access to sports and outdoor recreation programs by offering them for free or at a reduced cost were also recommended to address the ongoing impacts of the pandemic.
To work towards these recommendations, a fall forum will be hosted with the Canadian Mental Health Association to brainstorm the best way to move forward in addressing the secondary impacts.
