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Review
. 2023 Oct:53:101659.
doi: 10.1016/j.copsyc.2023.101659. Epub 2023 Aug 17.

COVID-19 and indigenous youth wellbeing: A review

Meghan O Mollons  1 , Kailey E Penner  2 , Anthony L Elsom  2 , Emily E Cameron  2 , Sandra Hunter  2 , Lindsay Woods  3 , Lianne M Tomfohr-Madsen  4 , Alicia Nijdam-Jones  2 , Leslie E Roos  5
Affiliations
Review

COVID-19 and indigenous youth wellbeing: A review

Meghan O Mollons et al. Curr Opin Psychol. 2023 Oct.

Abstract

Indigenous youth in Canada and the United States of America (USA) have been disproportionately affected by the COVID-19 pandemic due to the compounding of increased illness risk and legacies of colonization. This article reports the findings of a Cochrane rapid review of 23 studies that examined mental wellbeing outcomes for Indigenous youth from March 2020 to April 2023 in Canada and the USA. Reported pandemic-related mental wellbeing impacts included changes in alcohol and substance use, anxiety, depression, sleep, and suicidality. Protective factors emerged including cultural and community connection. Results suggest that mental wellbeing worsened for many Indigenous youth during COVID-19. Clinical implications are discussed alongside guidance for service provision improvements to support Indigenous youth wellbeing, from a lens of self-determination.

Keywords: COVID-19; Health; Indigenous youth; Mental wellbeing; Rapid review.

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Conflict of interest statement

Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.