Growing Up in a Pandemic: health behaviours and the impact of COVID-19 on health inequalities among young people in Ireland

Project Information

Teenpath Covid

Grant agreement ID: 101030824

DOI

10.3030/101030824

Project closed

EC signature date 27 April 2021

Start date 1 July 2021

End date 22 October 2023

Funded under

• EXCELLENT SCIENCE - Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions

Total cost

€ 184 590,72

EU contribution

€ 184 590,72

Coordinated by

ROYAL COLLEGE OF SURGEONS IN IRELAND
Ireland

Periodic Reporting for period 1 - Teenpath Covid (Growing Up in a Pandemic: health behaviours and the impact of COVID-19 on health inequalities among young people in Ireland)

Reporting period: 2021-07-01 to 2023-06-30

Summary of the context and overall objectives of the project

The COVID-19 pandemic has had significant impacts on the mental health and wellbeing of young people in Ireland and worldwide. Evidence suggests that existing inequalities have grown in the wake of the pandemic, harming the health, social and material well-being of children and young people, with the pandemic impacting on child poverty, healthcare access, mental health, and educational outcomes for young people. Research on the wellbeing and mental health of young people in Ireland has identified protective factors for mental health including physical activity, family support systems, supportive friendships and connectedness with teachers and schools. On the other hand, risk factors include difficulties within family structures, loss and bereavement, low socioeconomic status and financial stress. COVID-19 and the effects of lockdown may have worsened many if not all of these risk factors, while disrupting protective factors such as support networks and connectedness.

The Teenpath COVID study has contributed important qualitative insights to these analyses in a project that expands our understandings of what it means to grow up during a pandemic, particularly regarding its implications on young people’s mental health.

Specifically, the aims of the TeenPath COVID project are to:

1) Explore young people’s lived experiences of the COVID-19 pandemic in their social and domestic worlds
2) Examine the role of social networks in young people’s mental health and resilience
3) Outline health inequalities worsened by the pandemic, and identify entry points for policies affecting differential exposures and vulnerabilities

Teenpath COVID has documented significant disruptions to young people’s daily lives, primarily on their education and social networks, toward building a greater understanding of its impact on their mental health and long-term well-being. From here we sought to identify inequalities in some of the ways certain groups of young people may experience disproportionate exposures and vulnerabilities to these impacts, with a view to finding solutions to mitigate these effects. From a public health perspective, this is important for understanding the long-term consequences of COVID-19’s impacts on the mental health of young people today and their health and wellbeing in the future.

Work performed from the beginning of the project to the end of the period covered by the report and main results achieved so far

The TeenPath COVID project explored important protective social interactions and relationships for young people’s health and resilience throughout the pandemic, and traced young peoples’ daily navigation of growing up in times of great epidemiological, economic and social uncertainty. This was achieved through a combination of interviews, surveys, and ethnographic observations with young people and services providing support to them. A stakeholder mapping exercise and analysis was conducted from the outset of the study to establish key concerns and priorities among young people and service providers in Ireland in order to align Teenpath’s research design with the key issues affecting young people since the pandemic, and refine the study’s research questions and data collection methods.

Interviews were then conducted with young people aged 16-25 to explore their experiences of the pandemic narratively and ways participants have responded to these impacts. This revealed how their routines and emotional wellbeing adapted during the crisis, identifying protective coping strategies developed by young people (such as developing new hobbies and interests, maintaining or establishing new social connections and communities online, and devising attainable goals and routines to re-establish daily structure) while exploring ways of supporting young people navigating a rapidly changing landscape of adolescence and early adulthood in a time of global crisis.

We used these results to develop an online survey launched nationally which covered the impacts of the pandemic on education and work, access to healthcare, mental health and other health behaviours, as well as young people’s feelings about the future.

Finally, we collaborated with an arts-based youth-led programme in Dublin that explored issues impacting young people today. This involved conducting ethnographic observation and interviews with one cohort of young people and staff participating the programme over one year, providing in-depth insights into issues around mental health such as depression, social isolation, and addiction which have increased since the pandemic.

Our study found that the pandemic impacted young people’s mental health in a number of ways, with key drivers being disruptions to education, uncertainty around the future, isolation and fracturing of social networks.

• Many young people developed strategies to cope and remained optimistic about the future, but reported difficulties in seeking and accessing emotional support when they needed it.

• Accessing and maintaining social support networks, and developing self-directed routines and structure in their lives were important throughout lockdowns. However the extent to which these were possible was shaped significantly by individuals' personal circumstances at the time, with vulnerable and socioeconomically disadvantaged groups requiring more targeted support.

• Engagement in youth-led services and arts-based programmes can equip young people with the skills and confidence to explore and express complex issues important to them and their mental health.

• The COVID-19 pandemic’s impact on young people’s mental health is becoming increasingly apparent and will have long-term consequences that require research and investment in integrated mental health and youth services.

Progress beyond the state of the art and expected potential impact (including the socio-economic impact and the wider societal implications of the project so far)

Teenpath COVID has contributed qualitative insights to explore the protective and triggering relationships influencing mental health among young people, expanding our understanding of what it means to ‘grow up’ in a pandemic. Teenpath COVID complements existing quantitative evidence, using an innovative combination of participatory ethnographic methods to understand pandemic experiences, with a specific focus on linking young people and their priorities to those of key stakeholders in public health policy. This has helped identify key determinants of health inequalities potentially amplified by COVID-19, together with ways to improve health promotion engagement strategies and social and health supports for young people. Teenpath has been novel in its participatory approaches, involving local youth groups and people from the outset and throughout the project. Findings at each stage of the study have been shared with stakeholders and informed collaboratively further stages of data collection. This public involvement has been crucial to developing important relationships and trust with the community and stakeholders affected by the issues explored in the study, and allowed for continuous and impactful dissemination of our findings. Beyond the end of the project, we continue to work with our collaborators and participants, and plan a further policy workshop to ensure lessons from the study inform policy at a local and national level, involving mental health, education, and youth services. Our involvement of youth co-researchers and experiences of using this public involvement approach have been shared at workshops with other researchers, and are helping to inform others in the Public and Patient Involvement with Young People network in Ireland in particular.

Teenpath findings summary poster