Funding outcome

The COVID-19 pandemic affects our lives significantly in many ways. In Alberta, schools are preparing to re-open in Fall 2021 to resume in-person learning for students. Therefore, it is important to understand the full pandemic impact on children and young people's mental health and wellbeing. There is a lot of research addressing negative impacts of the pandemic, however, no research has been done to observe the state of child and youth mental health and wellbeing as they re-enter into schools this Fall. Schools play an important role supporting students with mental health needs and additional needs during this transition. Teachers need to identify students who may need extra support, which can often go undetected during this transition. We will address this research gap among children and youth (ages 12 - 18) in secondary schools through two surveys in a large school division involving over 20,000 students in Alberta, Canada. The project team includes members from schools, mental health professionals and researchers, and policy makers. This study engages students to complete surveys on mental health and wellbeing: one in September 2021 when students are expected to return to schools, and the other in March 2022, using the same survey to the same group of students. These two surveys will be compared to understand differences and similarities of student mental health when they first come back to schools and when they have been in schools for a while. Then we will share findings with schools and disseminate project results in 2022-2023. The results of this project will help schools and policy makers to develop useful strategies to support student transitions.