Communicating with and supporting youth diagnosed with COVID-19: A trauma-informed care approach

Abstract

Relaxing or removing COVID-19 pandemic-related restrictions (e.g., mask-wearing), increasingly transmissible variants, and lack of vaccination is facilitating SARS-CoV-2 transmission in youth. COVID-19 has also brought increased exposure to potentially traumatic events for adolescents such as a COVID-19 diagnosis, hospitalization or death of a close family member or friend, loss of important life events, economic challenges, and/or increased exposures to abuse or violence in their home or community. Mental health challenges (e.g., depression) for adolescents have increased since the start of the pandemic.

Importantly, adolescents have similar cognitive abilities to adults when it comes to reasoning about health risks and information, but uniquely they also have strong needs for autonomy and social connection, and exhibit notable developmental and individual differences in their neurobiological susceptibility for mental health problems when exposed to stress. Those youth who are diagnosed with COVID-19 may be at even higher risk for mental health challenges due to isolation and fears.

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DOI

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jadohealth.2021.10.006

Repository URI

https://www.research.ed.ac.uk/en/publications/3b00366b-24d2-4c85-b85d-a25069570787