Effects of COVID-19 Restrictions on Childhood and Adolescent Mental Health: A Scoping Review

We undertook a scoping review and searched LitCovid, the WHO Covid-19 database, Google Scholar and bibliographies of retrieved articles for systemic reviews and NGO reports on mental health effects in children and adolescents during the COVID-19 period of restrictions.The evidence in this review shows that the overall impact of COVID-19 restrictions on children and adolescents' mental health and well-being is likely to be severe. Therefore, mental health should be a crucial consideration when introducing restrictive measures that increase social isolation for children and adolescents. Several reviews highlight the essential need to monitor the ongoing impact of mental health in children and the requirement for further long-term studies.AppendicesAppendix 1. Effects of COVID-19 Restrictions on Childhood and Adolescent Mental HealthFiguresFigure 1. PRISMA Flow ChartFigure 2. Childhood and Mental Health Systematic ReviewsTablesTable 1. Study Impacts and Limitations