Understanding and mitigating the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on children, youth, and families in Canada

Overview

In 2021, through CIHR the Government of Canada funded 70 one-year projects focused on understanding and mitigating the impacts of the pandemic on Canadian children, youth, and families. These operating grants were part of the Government of Canada’s response to the pandemic and are a key deliverable for the Inspiring Healthy Futures initiative. This initiative advances IHDCYH's 2022-2026 Strategic Plan by supporting the growth of interdisciplinary teams, facilitating meaningful partnerships, and supporting recovery from pandemic impacts.

Each project responded to the following objectives to improve understanding of, response to, and recovery from the impacts of the pandemic on children, youth, and families in Canada:

  1. Enhance understanding of the nature and breadth of the impacts of COVID-19 restrictions, including factors that are protective or exacerbate these impacts;
  2. Accelerate the availability and use of high-quality and real-time evidence regarding the identification and mobilization of practices that support the adaptation of existing programs and the development of new programs that enhance health and well-being;
  3. Generate evidence related to diverse population(s), including: equity considerations, health and well-being status (e.g., historically excluded or underserved populations, individuals with complex health needs and/or a disability), sex and gender, and/or racialized or First Nations, Inuit, Métis and Urban Indigenous populations;
  4. Identify populations at the highest and high risk for negative outcomes, factors that are associated with this increased greater risk, as well as any factors that have been found to be protective and/or enhance resilience.

Funded Research

A wide array of different and intersecting outcomes and experiences are being studied in the funded projects, such as mental health, health behaviours (e.g., sleep, screen time), family dynamics, social determinants of health, injuries, pregnancy, DNA, and more. Several projects focused on specific populations including youth with mood disorders; children with disabilities and/or chronic illness; pregnant Indigenous Peoples; racialized youth; children with adverse childhood experiences; and babies born during the pandemic. This investment supports a diversity of research approaches including trials, cross-sectional or cohort designs, photovoice, interviews, evidence synthesis, Delphi consensus, and participatory action research.

Convening the research community and championing the mobilization of knowledge to showcase the benefits of health research is a key priority for IHDCYH, as outlined in our 2022-2026 Strategic Plan. To support capacity development and the knowledge mobilization needs expressed by the funded teams, IHDCYH invited Research Impact Canada (RIC) to deliver a training session after the end of the one year grant period. RIC is a network that supports researchers, trainees, and their partners to demonstrate contributions to and the impact of research excellence. The following Health Research in Action profiles feature case studies based on learnings and guidelines (i.e., Impact and Engagement Case Study Guidelines) from the RIC workshop which are excellent examples of demonstrated research impact:

News release: Health researchers across Canada launch projects to mitigate impacts of COVID-19 pandemic on children, youth and families

Partners

This initiative is led by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) and the Government of Canada with the CIHR Institute of Human Development, Child and Youth Health (IHDCYH), in collaboration with the CIHR Institute of Aging (IA), the CIHR Institute of Circulatory and Respiratory Health (ICRH), the CIHR Institute of Gender and Health (IGH), the CIHR Institute of Health Services and Policy Research (IHSPR), the CIHR Institute of Indigenous Peoples Health (IIPH), the CIHR Institute of Neurosciences, Mental Health and Addiction (INMHA), and the CIHR Institute of Population and Public Health (IPPH), and in partnership with the New Brunswick Health Research Foundation and the Michael Smith Foundation for Health Research.

Funding Opportunity

Operating Grant: Understanding and mitigating the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on children, youth and families in Canada (Archived)

Contact Information

For more information about this program, please contact:

CIHR Contact Centre
Telephone: 613-954-1968
Toll Free: 1-888-603-4178
Email: support-soutien@cihr-irsc.gc.ca

For service hours, please consult our Contact us page.

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