Abstract
Loneliness is the one of the common phase experienced during COVID-19 pandemic. It has impacted mental health of all ages specifically children and adolescents. The aim of this review was to assess level of loneliness and mental health related impacts of COVID-19 among both; children and adolescents. For this literature review, two independent reviewers searched articles on Cochrane library, MEDLINE, Google Scholar and Science-direct. Both MeSH terms and free text terms were used for search purposes between December 01, 2019 and December 30, 2021. A total of 14 studies met inclusion criteria and of these, 8 studies were related to mental health related impacts of COVID-19 pandemic whereas 6 studies involved both aspects i.e. loneliness and mental health among children and adolescents. One study was qualitative, one interventional, and remaining 12 were cross-sectional surveys. The findings of this review suggest an increase in level of loneliness and mental health related impacts during COVID-19 pandemic among children and adolescents. Loneliness, social distancing and internet usage therefore re strongly correlated with mental health related issues including stress, anxiety and depression.
Acknowledgments
We would like to thank Dr. Reem Javed Malik for her guidance while selection of topic.
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Research funding: None.
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Author contributions: All authors have accepted responsibility for the entire content of this manuscript and approved its submission.
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Competing interests: Authors state no conflict of interest.
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