Sylvana M. Côté, PhD, FRSC
Université de Montréal; Centre hospitalier universitaire Sainte-Justine; Observatory for Children’s Education and Health; Groupe de recherche sur l’inadaptation psychosociale chez l’enfant; Montreal, QC

This presentation will review meta-analyses, systematic reviews and population-based studies providing information on the impact of COVID-19 public health policies on children’s mental health and education. Short-term impact on depression and anxiety were moderately large. Long-term impacts are not known yet. Children with prior learning challenges are the most impacted in terms of education/cognitive development. Evidenced-based interventions to mitigate the problems exacerbated/created by the public health measures will be proposed.

Learning Objectives
At the end of this presentation, attendees will be able to:

  • Appreciate the population-level consequences of COVID-19 public health policies on children in terms of a) mental health; b) health habits; and c) cognitive development and education;
  • Understand the differentiated impacts of public health measures according to the socioeconomic status of families’ or children’s vulnerabilities; and
  • Present some evidence-based interventions to deal with the consequences

CanMEDS Roles: Communicator