Tracking the impact of Covid-19 on the mental health of children, young people and families; follow up of a national longitudinal probability sample

Children and young people's daily lives have been affected in many ways during the Covid-19 pandemic. Schools and colleges have closed to most children, while all have faced disruption to leisure activities and physical distancing from friends, family and community networks. The impact of the outbreak may be most severe for the groups who are already disadvantaged. Children and families needing help may have found it harder to access support during lockdown. Although there have been online surveys of children's mental health, we know that the most disadvantaged groups are less likely to take part in such studies, and we lack data on how children and young people were coping before lockdown. This means that we have a limited understanding of how different groups of children might be affected in the short and longer term. Information from a study that includes children from a wide range of backgrounds and is representative of the population is therefore needed in order to guide efforts to provide help for those affected, prevent longer term problems, and to better support children and families in the recovery from the pandemic, or during any future lockdowns or pandemic response.

In this research, we will contact the parents, children and young people and families who took part in the national Mental Health of Children and Young People in England (MHCYP) survey 2017, and ask them to participate in three follow-up surveys, in July 2020, October 2020 and January 2021. The young people are now aged 5-22 years.
The main aims of the research are:
1/ To track children's mental health and wellbeing over the course of the pandemic
2/ To identify groups of children whose mental health may have been most affected,
3/ To explore the factors which might increase the risk of problems, or protect against the development of mental health problems
4/ To report on changes in access to help and support for mental health concerns

The surveys will ask about: child mental health and wellbeing, parent mental health, worries about coronavirus, impacts of coronavirus on the household (for example, employment and education), access to mental health help and support, and about the child or young person's daily life and activities. We will also invite some young people and families to take part in more detailed interviews about their experiences; the interview topics will depend partly on the findings of the surveys, and on the views and priorities of the young people, families, professionals and organisations working with us. Our team includes experts from the Office for National Statistics and NatCen Social Research who ran the previous national child mental health surveys, as well as from three universities (Cambridge, Exeter and Kings College London). We will be working closely with the Department for Health and Social Care, the Department for Education, and NHS England, as well as with charities and other groups working with children and families and running health, care and education services. We will also have an advisory panel of young people, parents, and professionals working in education, health and care. We will produce 'rapid reports' to help these groups and organisations plan and provide care and support for the children and families who need it most. For example, our findings may help in: identifying groups of children who might need additional support in any future lockdown or pandemic; or in planning services to meet specific needs such as increased levels of anxiety or trauma-related symptoms, and improved access to learning at home. We will work nationally and internationally with other researchers studying children's mental health and Covid-19, to help understand the mental health impacts on a global scale, and share our findings in academic journals and conferences. We will work with our advisory panel to develop blogs, videos and news items to share the main messages with the public.

Covid-19 led to unprecedented changes to the lives of children and young people. The impact of the pandemic response may delay help-seeking and intervention delivery, widen inequalities, and amplify existing risk factors. Policy-makers and commissioners urgently need longitudinal data on representative populations to guide the mitigation of longer-term impacts at scale.
Consequently, we propose broadening the scope of the funded 2020 follow up to the national Mental Health of Children and Young People in England (MHCYP) survey, to include three waves of data collection (June, October, January) and all participants who consented to re-contact. This approach has significant advantages over current convenience surveys, most importantly the use of a well-characterised national probability sample with pre-pandemic baseline data on mental health and risk factors.

The aims are:
1/ To track mental health and wellbeing over the course of the pandemic and up to a year afterwards
2/ To identify groups whose mental health may be most adversely affected, and explore risk and protective factors.
3/ To track the impact of and compliance with social distancing measures and school closures on children and families
4/ To examine changes in access to services and support.

We will use a combination of online questionnaires and remote semi-structured interviews augmented by health and education data linkages. Content will include child and parent mental health, and impact of covid-19 on education, social and family life. Our output strategy will prioritise rapid dissemination, followed by high impact publications.