Student Mental Health in the Pandemic
Introduction
IN
the face of the global COVID-19 pandemic, schools have
confronted unprecedented challenges as they moved to quickly shift classes to
an online format, provide equitable access for all students, support teachers’
and students’ educational needs, and make plans amidst great uncertainty. The
pandemic itself has caused much worry, stress, and grief. These stressors can
cause mental health challenges for anyone and can cause acute symptoms to
appear for people who may experience preexisting mental health challenges.
Universal screening to identify students in need
An established method to identify
students who may have difficulties with anxiety or depression is through
systematic screening of the school population. For elementary school students,
screening involves teachers and students completing brief questionnaires
regarding students’ emotions and classroom behaviors. At the middle and high
school levels, screening primarily relies on student questionnaires regarding
the frequency or severity of any emotional concerns.
Teachers also may be asked to nominate
students who appear to be excessively anxious or frequently sad. Students can
complete questionnaires using paper-and-pencil surveys or, more appropriately
for online instruction phases, through online, secure questionnaires. School
mental health professionals (e.g., counselors, school psychologists) use scores
on these questionnaires to identify students who appear at risk for anxiety or
depression difficulties.
Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic,
approximately 15 to 20% of students could be expected to be identified as
needing support through screening this
percentage will almost certainly be higher given the potential emotional
fallout of the pandemic.
Different roles of school
professionals
School-based mental health
professionals can provide direct support to students who are potentially at
risk for emotional issues by helping to implement systematic screenings. While
each school-based helping profession’s ultimate goal is to facilitate the
optimal development of each child, there is a differentiation in roles that
each specialist takes.
For instance, within the screening
process teachers are the professionals who are the most knowledgeable about
students’ general behaviors because they have the most contact with
students daily. As a result, observant teachers may be able to detect subtle
changes in children’s daily mood, habits, and school-based practices.
Screening process case study
Anupyria
and mona makes every effort to reach out to his students with recent
disruptions in face-to-face school instruction. Most students respond to
check-ins and complete academic work at an expected level, but Sarah has not
responded to communication and frequently fails to complete assigned work.
Anupyria and mona first reaches out to other
teachers who work with Sarah and determines through this network that Sarah
shows similar behavior with other teachers. The team confirms that technology
is not a barrier and fails to find any evidence of environmental concerns that
would prevent her from connecting. Concerned about potential mental health
distress, Anupyria and mona contacts the
school psychologist to inquire about screening. Anupyria and mona ’s school was
already planning on administering a universal screening tool for all students
the following week.
As
a result of this screening, the school psychologist found that Sarah needed
some additional supports and connected her with the appropriate school and
community mental health resources. If results of the screening had not
indicated specific mental health concerns, a school-based team would probe
further to identify other factors that are preventing Sarah from finding
success.
Screening is one part of the prevention and
support process. What happens after
Once
students are identified as being at-risk for emotional difficulties, it is
important for the school to have a plan of action to connect youth to effective
support services. Ideally, this would involve in-school individual or group
counseling as part of a multi-tiered system of support (Eagle et al., 2015).
Alternatively, students could be referred to community agencies that treat
youth with mental health disorders. Some school districts contract with
community agencies to provide mental health support in the school setting.
Given
the many mental health challenges that students may experience during and after
the pandemic, it is important for educators to (a) assist in identifying
at-risk students through systematic screening; (b) advocate for universal screening
of the school population during and following online learning phases; and (c)
increase awareness of the importance of mental health screening with their
teacher colleagues as well as school administrators and parents.
How To Keep Mental Health Issues Like Anxiety,
Panic At Bay With Yoga
Yoga is known to change the underline
biology of the disease. For instance, in patients with depression, there are
high levels of cortisol and low levels of brain repairing chemical called brain-derived
neurotrophic factor. When you treat such patients with yoga, their cortisol
level drops, levels of brain repairing chemical increases and depression gets
better
When asked about the kind of exercises one should begin with to deal with the anxiety, panic, and stress that has become more common during Coronavirus pandemic, Dr Sabharwal suggests three poses – Balasana (Child’s pose) which stimulates the nervous system and re-energise our bodies; Viparita Karani (legs up the wall pose) for improved blood circulation and relaxing mind; Shavasana (corpse pose) for meditation and relaxing the body.
Conclusion
Our findings support the notion that the current
COVID-19 pandemic is making a significant negative impact on
mental health of college students. College students who exhibit greater
academic and life difficulties may be particularly vulnerable to higher mental
health distress.
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