FOCUS on Adolescents: A mixed-methods study to optimize COVID-19 recovery and renewal efforts among adolescents in Canada and France

This award is co-funded by Health Research BC, through CIHR’s Operating Grant: Understanding and mitigating the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on children, youth and families in Canada. 

 

The COVID-19 pandemic and its corresponding health, social, and economic implications present potential lasting consequences for inequalities and vulnerabilities to manifest across later phases of the life course — a trend that may have significant impacts for adolescents aged 15-19. For example, school closures and other public health measures (e.g. isolation) have had significant effects on adolescent health — an age group whose need for social engagement and connection are essential for development. However, little is known about how social, economic, and cultural changes related to COVID-19 will affect adolescents’ health and social well-being over time.

 

To fill this knowledge gap, Dr. Rod Knight (principal investigator, assistant professor, UBC Department of Medicine) and Dr. Marie Jauffret-Roustide (co-principal investigator, research scientist, INSERM, University of Paris) are launching an international research study to extend their CIHR-funded France-Canada Observatory on COVID-19, Youth Health, and Social-wellbeing (FOCUS) – a research program launched in June 2020 to evaluate the impact of COVID-19 on youth aged 19-29 living in Canada and France – to include adolescents aged 15-19.

 

The FOCUS on Adolescents project will work alongside a group of adolescents from Canada and France to adapt the FOCUS Study’s program of research to include adolescents in a series of annual interviews and bi-annual national online surveys. At the end of the study, a participatory summit will be held in each country with youth and key stakeholders working with adolescents (e.g. clinicians, community members, policy makers) to identify interventions that best address the social and health needs of adolescents.

 

This research project will provide policy makers and clinicians with high-quality, real-time evidence to inform COVID-19 public health responses to improve health outcomes and reduce health inequities among adolescents.

End of Award Update – July 2024

 

Results

Our main objective was to involve adolescents aged 15-18 in our FOCUS research infrastructure, including the development and implementation of an online survey in Canada and France. To achieve this objective, we successfully engaged via in-person and virtual meetings with community organizations providing health and social support services to adolescents in both countries. These partnerships allowed us to adapt our online questionnaire and promotion strategies to reach and recruit a large group of adolescents in both countries: more than 300 adolescents took part of our survey in both countries. Involving adolescents in our research represents a key opportunity to investigate the differences between adolescents and young adults in terms of mental health and substance use, and therefore provide specific recommendations about the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic in each group.

 

Impact

During this research project, we implemented an international consortium of researchers from various disciplines, including Canadian and French researchers, which was a critical step to identify context-specific factors (e.g., differences in perceptions of mental health needs and vaccination) influencing research outcomes and developing further international, comparative research projects. We have presented research findings and other ongoing data analyses related to the FOCUS Study at international conferences and to our community partners as part of our knowledge mobilization activities.

 

Potential Influence

Our research activities allowed us to engage in constructive discussions with health providers and peer workers from community organizations regarding the influence of determinants of health on youth health and social wellbeing. For example, specific data analyses have been planned to inform community organizations about the health needs and concerns of adolescents and young adults in the current post-pandemic context.

 

Next Steps

Throughout the remainder of the FOCUS Study, we will continue to engage with community organizations and youth representatives to collaborate on the preparation of scientific articles. In order to accelerate the availability of our research findings, we will also develop a set of scholarly and policy-oriented deliverables, including those designed for key decisionmakers (e.g., government officials), as well as brief summaries of evidence, which we will promote through media engagement (e.g., media interviews, posts on social media platforms). For example, the preliminary findings of the 2023 FOCUS survey have been summarized in a community report that will be shared and presented to youth community organizations in France and Canada.

 

 

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