Hernandez, Bea Margarita B.

– NCM 111 Lec

BSN 3-1

The Impact of COVID-19 Lockdown on Child and Adolescent Mental Health: Systematic Review

Source: Panchal, U., Salazar de Pablo, G., Franco, M. et al. The impact of COVID-19 lockdown on
child and adolescent mental health: systematic review. Eur Child Adolesc Psychiatry (2021).
Retrieved from: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00787-021-01856-w

INTRODUCTION

We all experienced a wide range of emotions as lockdown was declared in numerous

nations around the world. COVID-19 was not something any of us anticipated and we never
imagined something so significant would occur and severely impact our lives in an instant.
People lost their jobs as a result of having to spend a lot of time at home, and we were
prevented from doing the things we used to do, including going out to meet friends, running
errands, and even attending school leaving students to learn virtually. I believe that's what
caused it to have a bad effect on child and adolescents.

The goal of this study was to review the literature on the impact of lockdown
procedures implemented in response to the COVID-19 outbreak on child and adolescents’
mental health. It was stated that young people, were at higher risk of developing mental health
problems than adults, may be particularly vulnerable to the adverse effects of isolation,
including school closures, due to the disruption lockdown causes on their physical activity and
social interaction. Quarantines and lockdowns are states of isolation that are psychologically
distressing and unpleasant for anyone who experiences them.

METHODS

Search strategy and selection criteria

 Two independent researchers (Panchal, Franco) carried out a comprehensive search on
Embase, Ovid MEDLINE, Global Health, Web of Science, and APA PsycINFO from the beginning
to the first of April 2021. eMethods 1 contains the search phrases that were employed. As this is
a developing field, they searched the pre-print databases at medRxiv, psyArXiv, and bioRxiv to
find additional pertinent papers. Google Scholar was used to manually search the references of
the studies and reviews that were included in this study. The identified articles underwent an
abstract screening. The complete texts of the remaining articles were then evaluated for
eligibility and choices regarding their ultimate inclusion in the review were made after those
that did not meet the inclusion criteria had been eliminated.

The inclusion criteria were as follows: (1) individual studies with original data, including
grey literature, (2) conducted in children and adolescents aged ≤ 19 years, (3) exposed to COVID-
19 lockdown, as operationalized in each study (4) evaluating mental health outcomes (5) in
English. The exclusion criteria were as follows: (1) conference proceeding, abstracts, case
reports or reviews, (2) studies including adults > 19 years, (3) studies in which children and
adolescents were not exposed to COVID-19 lockdown, (4) studies focusing on physical health
outcomes only.

Data extraction

Data extraction was done by unaffiliated researchers (Panchal, Franco). Consensus was
used to settle disagreements, and if consensus could not be reached, a different researcher
(Salazar de Pablo) was consulted. Lead author/year, country, study design (cross-sectional,
cohort, qualitative, mixed methods), sample size, sex (% females), age (mean SD, range),
exposure data (lockdown definition, lockdown length), instruments, outcomes, report (parent,
children), and key findings were among the variables that were extracted.

Strategy for data synthesis

The systematic review's findings were narratively synthesized and summarized in tables.
Results were divided into groups based on good mental health outcomes and protective
variables, then on poor mental health outcomes and risk factors.

RESULTS
 To the researcher’s knowledge, this is the first systematic review to examine how the
COVID-19 lockdown affected children' and adolescents' mental health. They discovered that the
most frequent consequences were anxiety and despair. Children's levels of despair and anxiety
symptoms increased noticeably and significantly throughout the lockdown compared to those
recorded prior to the lockdown. In addition to these effects, the COVID-19 lockdown also seems
to be linked to loneliness, psychological anguish, anger, irritation, boredom, fear, and stress. By
identifying those that might be at risk for mental health decline, our results add to existing
understanding. New psychiatric disorders might develop during the lockdown, while children
who have previously dealt with mental health issues including eating disorders might see those
issues resurface.

CONCLUSIONS

The COVID-19 lockdown has caused psychological discomfort, brought attention to

vulnerable populations including those who struggle with their mental health, and highlighted
risk factors such a loss of routine and excessive COVID-19 media coverage. However, being able
to spend more time together as a family has been beneficial for some families. The most
important thing is to help vulnerable kids and teenagers with their mental health issues. It is
necessary to create clinical guidelines to lessen the consequences of the COVID-19 lockout as
well as public health initiatives to assist this population.