A call to create evidence-based mental health promotion interventions for youth that are equitable across ethnic/racial subgroups: Advocates 4-ALL Youth.

Background: Adolescents from historically racial and ethnic minoritized and low-income communities have higher rates of early-life and chronic difficulties with anxiety and depression compared to non-Hispanic White youth. With mental health distress exacerbated during and in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, there is a need for accessible, equitable evidence-based programs that promote psychological well-being, strengthen one's ability to adapt to adversity, and build self-efficacy prior to adolescence. Methods: An evidenced-based resiliency-focused health coaching intervention was adapted using a health equity implementation framework to meet the needs of a Title I elementary school in rural Alabama (AL) that serves over 80% Black and Hispanic students. To ensure that the program met local community needs while maintaining core program educational activities, all adaptations were documented utilizing a standard coding system. Results: Leveraging an existing academic-community partnership with Auburn University and a local AL school district, a new program, Advocates 4-All Youth (ALLY), was created. Three major adaptations were required: (1) the use of local community volunteers (ALLYs) to deliver the program versus health coaches, (2) the modification of program materials to meet the challenge of varying levels of general and health-related literacy, and (3) the integration of the Empower Action Model to target protective factors in a culturally-tailored delivery to ensure key program outcomes are found equitable for all students. Conclusion: With continued increases in youth mental health distress, there is a need for the development of universal primary prevention interventions to promote mental well-being and to strengthen protective factors among youth from historically disadvantaged backgrounds. ALLY was created to meet these needs and may be an effective strategy if deemed efficacious in improving program outcomes.

Teachers’ Mental Health During the COVID-19 Pandemic

With an emergence of research investigating the educational impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic, empirical studies assessing teachers' mental health throughout the pandemic have been scarce. Using a large national data set, the current study compares mental health outcomes during the pandemic between pre-K-12 teachers and professionals in other occupations. Further, we compare the prevalence of mental health outcomes between in-person and remote teachers (N = 134,693). Findings indicate that teachers reported a greater prevalence of anxiety symptoms than did those in other professions and that remote teachers reported significantly higher levels of distress than did those teaching in person. We summarize the policy implications of these results.

Children's Attention and Self-Regulatory Behavior Before and During the COVID-19 Pandemic.

OBJECTIVE: The goal of this study was to investigate changes in children's self-regulatory behavior before and during the COVID-19 pandemic. METHOD: Participants were parents of children aged 4 to 13 years (n = 45, mean 7.5, SD: 2.6) who participated in the Baltimore Generations Study before the pandemic. They reported on their child's self-regulation (SR) using the Parent Observation of Child Adaptation. During the pandemic, they were recontacted to report on child SR, disruptions to family life (Coronavirus Impact Scale), and parenting stress (Parenting Stress Index). Prepandemic to pandemic changes in SR were compared with repeated measures analysis of variance. RESULTS: There were significant decreases in child SR (poorer concentration, attention, task engagement and persistence, and greater impulsivity) prepandemic to pandemic. During the pandemic, parenting stress was correlated with lower child SR (r range = -0.52 to -0.34, p < 0.05). Pandemic-related family disruptions were associated with changes in children's impulsivity (F [1, 42] = 5.28, p = 0.03); children with 4 or more disruptions (67%) showed less ability to wait their turn during the pandemic compared with prepandemic (M [SD] = 3.34 [0.93] vs. 4.41 [1.21], t [28] = 3.93, p < 0.001). There was no change in SR for children with fewer than 4 disruptions. CONCLUSION: Results highlight modest pandemic-associated decreases in child attention, task persistence, and task engagement alongside increases in impulsivity. We did not find evidence of broad or severe impacts; however, children whose families have been disproportionately affected by the pandemic may need focused support in school and at home to avoid widening prepandemic health and educational disparities.