Impact of COVID-19 on social work field education: Perspectives of Canadian social work students.

Summary: Social work field education has experienced major disruptions due to the COVID-19 pandemic, while also embracing new opportunities to grow. The Transforming the Field Education Landscape research partnership developed a cross-sectional web-based survey with closed- and open-ended questions to understand student perceptions of COVID-19's impacts on social work field education. The survey opened during the first wave of the pandemic from July 8 to 29, 2020 and was completed by 367 Bachelor of Social Work (BSW) and Master of Social Work (MSW) students across Canada. Quantitative and qualitative data were analyzed using descriptive statistics and thematic analysis. Findings: Respondents experienced reduced practicum hours and placements terminating early or moving online. Students were concerned about gaining adequate experience for future job prospects. They were generally positive about academic institutional responses to COVID-19 but described financial challenges with tuition costs and a lack of paid practica. Respondents were mostly satisfied with practicum supervision. They experienced negative impacts of COVID-19 on mental health with isolation and remote learning and described a lack of institutional mental health support. Students were concerned with missing direct practice skills, while some students reported more flexible hours, access to online events beyond their region, and increased research experience. They expressed a need for practicum flexibility and accommodation. Applications: Recommendations include an increase in flexibility and accommodations for practicum students, exchanges of promising and wise field education practices, and accessible postsecondary mental health supports. Professional development opportunities should support graduates who missed learning opportunities in their practicum.

Social-Ecological Factors Associated With Higher Levels of Resilience in Children and Youth After Disaster: The Importance of Caregiver and Peer Support.

Children and youth are among the most vulnerable to the devastating effects of disaster due to the physical, cognitive, and social factors related to their developmental life stage. Yet children and youth also have the capacity to be resilient and act as powerful catalysts for change in their own lives and wider communities following disaster. Specific factors that contribute to resilience in children and youth, however, remain relatively unexplored. This article examines factors associated with high levels of resilience in 100 children and youth aged 5- to 18-years old who experienced the 2016 Fort McMurray, Alberta wildfire. A mixed-methods design was employed combining quantitative and qualitative data. Quantitative data was obtained from the Children and Youth Resilience Measure (CYRM-28) which measured individual, caregiver, and context factors influencing resilience processes among the participants. Qualitative data was collected through semi-structured interviews to gain further insight into the disaster experiences of children and youth. Quantitative findings reveal higher than average levels of resilience among the participants compared to normative scores. Qualitative findings suggest high levels of resilience were associated with both caregiver factors (specifically physical caregiving), and individual factors (primarily peer support). We discuss how physical caregiving and peer support during and after the wildfire helped mitigate the negative effects of disaster, thus bolstering children and youth's resilience. Implications for understanding the specific social-ecological factors that facilitate and support resiliency processes and overall recovery of children and youth following disaster are also discussed.

Nurturing Spiritual Resilience to Promote Post-disaster Community Recovery: The 2016 Alberta Wildfire in Canada.

The 2016 Alberta wildfire, the largest insured natural disaster in Canada, led to a mass evacuation of residents of Fort McMurray, a small city in northern Alberta. The wildfire resulted in significant damages to housing and community infrastructure. The entire community was displaced for several weeks. Post-disaster, community members experienced individual and collective trauma, and other negative mental health impacts in response to the significant losses and grief they endured. Spirituality has been found to be a major protective factor in facilitating resiliency and recovery following the experience of disaster. Nonetheless, little focus has been directed toward how spirituality can strengthen and empower community capacity and growth during post-disaster recovery. Our study explored various meanings and concerns, along with tools and strategies that helped to nurture spiritual resilience and well-being among residents of Fort McMurray following the Alberta wildfire. Data were collected through interviews and focus group discussions with community influencers working to support long-term recovery efforts in the city. Participants identified a number of spiritual resources such as a strong sense of belonging, a shared positive outlook, faith and hope, compassion, and sense of gratitude, which contributed to increased resilience and positive health and well-being and helped them to support families and communities in the post disaster recovery period. Our findings indicate that spiritual values and beliefs can play a significant role in building resilience and promoting individual and communal healing and recovery post-disaster. These findings have important implications for post-disaster recovery strategies, as they highlight the need to ensure supports for interventions and initiatives that strengthen a collective sense of identity and social cohesion, informed by communal norms and beliefs, including programs and resources which support opportunities for reflexivity to foster shared healing and ongoing recovery processes.

Collective Trauma and Mental Health in Adolescents: A Retrospective Cohort Study of the Effects of Retraumatization.

In the wake of the massive Canadian wildfire of May 2016 in the area of Fort McMurray Alberta, we observed increased rates of mental health problems, particularly post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), in school-aged adolescents (ages 11-19). Surprisingly, we did not see these rates decline over the 3.5-year follow-up period. Additionally, our research suggested that the impact of this mass incident resulted in other unanticipated effects, including the finding that children who were not present for and relatively unaffected by the wildfire showed a similar PTSD symptom profile to children more directly involved, suggesting some degree of spillover or stress contagion. A potential explanation for these high rates in individuals who were not present could be undiagnosed retraumatization in some of the students. To investigate this possibility, we compared two groups of students: those who reported the wildfire as their most significant trauma (n = 740) and those who had their most significant trauma prior to the wildfire (n = 295). Those with significant pre-existing trauma had significantly higher rates of both depression and PTSD symptoms, although, unexpectedly the groups exhibited no differences in anxiety level. Taken together, this evidence suggests retraumatization is both longer-lasting and more widespread than might be predicted on a case-by-case basis, suggesting the need to reconceptualize the role of past trauma history in present symptomatology. These findings point to the need to recognize that crises instigated by natural disasters are mass phenomena which expose those involved to numerous unanticipated risks. New trauma-informed treatment approaches are required that incorporate sensitivity to the collective impact of mass crises, and recognize the risk of poorer long-term mental health outcomes for those who experienced trauma in the past.

Mental Health Symptoms Unexpectedly Increased in Students Aged 11-19 Years During the 3.5 Years After the 2016 Fort McMurray Wildfire: Findings From 9,376 Survey Responses.

In Fort McMurray, Alberta, Canada, the wildfire of May 2016 forced the population of 88,000 to rapidly evacuate in a traumatic and chaotic manner. Ten percentage of the homes in the city were destroyed, and many more structures were damaged. Since youth are particularly vulnerable to negative effects of natural disasters, we examined possible long-term psychological impacts. To assess this, we partnered with Fort McMurray Public and Catholic Schools, who surveyed Grade 7-12 students (aged 11-19) in November 2017, 2018, and 2019-i.e., at 1.5, 2.5, and 3.5 years after the wildfire. The survey included validated measurement scales for post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), depression, anxiety, drug use, alcohol use, tobacco use, quality of life, self-esteem, and resilience. Data analysis was done on large-scale anonymous surveys including 3,070 samples in 2017; 3,265 samples in 2018; and 3,041 samples in 2019. The results were unexpected and showed that all mental health symptoms increased from 2017 to 2019, with the exception of tobacco use. Consistent with this pattern, self-esteem and quality of life scores decreased. Resilience scores did not change significantly. Thus, mental health measures worsened, in contrast to our initial hypothesis that they would improve over time. Of note, we observed higher levels of mental health distress among older students, in females compared to male students, and in individuals with a minority gender identity, including transgender and gender-non-conforming individuals. These findings demonstrate that deleterious mental health effects can persist in youth for years following a wildfire disaster. This highlights the need for multi-year mental health support programs for youth in post-disaster situations. The indication that multi-year, post-disaster support is warranted is relatively novel, although not unknown. There is a need to systematically investigate factors associated with youth recovery following a wildfire disaster, as well as efficacy of psychosocial strategies during later phases of disaster recovery relative to early post-disaster interventions.

Significant PTSD and Other Mental Health Effects Present 18 Months After the Fort Mcmurray Wildfire: Findings From 3,070 Grades 7-12 Students.

Background: The May 2016 wildfire in Fort McMurray, Alberta, Canada forced evacuation of the population of 88,000 individuals and destroyed 10% of the homes. Youth are particularly impacted by disaster. Methods: Eighteen months after the wildfire, Fort McMurray Public and Catholic Schools surveyed 3,252 of the 4,407 students in Grades 7-12 to determine possible long-term psychological impacts. The survey included validated measurement scales for post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), depression, anxiety, use of drugs, alcohol, and tobacco, quality of life, self-esteem, and resilience. Data analysis was possible for only 3,070 students, i.e., 70% of the total student population. Anonymized data were analyzed to compare students who directly experienced lesser or greater impact from the wildfire, with greater impact defined as personally seeing the fire or having one's home destroyed. Also, students with greater or lesser scores on the Child and Youth Resilience Measure (CYRM-12) were compared. Results: Of the 3,070 students, 37% met criteria for probable PTSD; 31% met criteria for probable depression, and 17% for probable depression of at least moderate severity; 27% of students met criteria for probable anxiety, and 15% for probable alcohol or substance use disorder; 46% of all students met criteria for one or more probable diagnosis of PTSD, depression, anxiety, or alcohol/substance abuse, and this included students who were both present and not present in Fort McMurray at the time of the wildfire. Students with greater impact from the wildfire exhibited significantly higher scores on measures of PTSD, depression, anxiety, and alcohol/substance use. They also had lower self-esteem and quality of life scores. Students with lower resilience scores exhibited a similar pattern. Conclusions: These findings highlight first the negative impact of disasters on youth mental health, particularly for those who directly experience wildfire, and second the role of resilience on youth mental health, with lower resilience associated with substantially lower mental health outcomes. These results emphasize the need for long-term mental health supports for youth post-disaster, with specific focus on increasing youth resilience, which may serve as a protective factor against effects of disaster on mental health.

Correction to: After the Fort McMurray wildfire there are significant increases in mental health symptoms in grade 7-12 students compared to controls.

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After the Fort McMurray wildfire there are significant increases in mental health symptoms in grade 7-12 students compared to controls.

BACKGROUND: In order to examine the impact of disasters on adolescent mental health, this study compared population mental health survey data from two communities in Alberta, Canada: Fort McMurray, which experienced a major natural disaster, and Red Deer, which did not. METHODS: Data from 3070 grade 7-12 students from Fort McMurray, Alberta, Canada (collected in 2017, 18 months after the 2016 wildfire) was compared with data from 2796 grade 7-12 students from Red Deer, Alberta, Canada (collected in 2014). The same measurement scales were used for both surveys. Both of these cities have populations of approximately 100,000, and both cities are located in Alberta, Canada. For this reason, Red Deer is an appropriate non-disaster impacted community to compare to the disaster impacted community of Fort McMurray. RESULTS: The results of this comparison demonstrate that mental health symptoms were statistically significantly elevated in the Fort McMurray population when compared to the control population in Red Deer. This occurred for scores consistent with a diagnosis of depression (31% vs. 17%), moderately severe depression (17% vs. 9%), suicidal thinking (16% vs. 4%), and tobacco use (13% vs. 10%). Consistent with there being major mental health impacts from the 2016 Fort McMurray wildfire, self-esteem scores and quality of life scores were also statistically significantly lower in Fort McMurray. While the rates of anxiety disorder were similar (15% vs. 16%), the mean scores on the anxiety scale were slightly higher, with this difference reaching statistical significance. There were no statistical differences in the rates or scores for alcohol or substance use. CONCLUSIONS: Our results are consistent with previous findings showing a significant negative impact of disasters on many aspects of adolescent mental, with a particular increase in symptoms related to depression and suicidal thinking. These findings highlight first, the need to identify adolescents most at risk of developing psychiatric symptoms after experiencing the trauma of disaster and second, the importance and necessity of implementing short and long term mental health intervention programs specifically aimed at adolescents, in order to help mitigate the negative effects of disasters on their mental health.

Melq'ilwiye: coming together--intersections of identity, culture, and health for urban Aboriginal youth.

The goal of this exploratory community-based participatory action research project was twofold: to determine how urban Aboriginal youth identify their health needs within a culturally centred model of health and wellness, and to create new knowledge and research capacity by and with urban Aboriginal youth and urban Aboriginal health-care providers. A mixed-method approach was employed to examine these experiences using talking circles and a survey. The study contributes to anticolonial research in that it resists narratives of dis(ease) put forth through neocolonial research paradigms.A key focus was the development of strategies that address the aspirations of urban Aboriginal youth, laying foundations upon which their potential in health and wellness can be nurtured, supported, and realized. The study contributes to a new narrative of the health of urban Aboriginal youth within a culturally centred and culturally safe framework that acknowledges their strong connection to their Indigenous lands, languages, and traditions while also recognizing the spaces between which they move.

The BRIDGE Community Consultation Project: building rural interprofessional discussions and group experiences.

INTRODUCTION: Interprofessional (IP) community-oriented health education is an important strategy for achieving high quality health care. The purpose of this project was to develop collaborative partnerships between rural communities and Thompson Rivers University, Canada, to identify the needs and priorities for building capacity for IP placements in two rural communities in the Interior of BC. METHODS: The project developed and implemented a Community-Based Participatory Action Research (CBPAR) workshop for rural health practitioners to strengthen collaborative partnerships. Focused group discussions were used to explore the needs and priorities for inter-professional placements, and to better understand the nature of IP practice in each community. Documentation and relevant academic literature was reviewed on IP practice and education, rural practice, and field education. RESULTS: The project identified the needs, priorities and challenges for IP placements, and successfully developed collaborative partnerships between rural communities and the university. Discussions revealed that allied health professionals were interested in facilitating IP placements but cited the lack of financial resources, accommodation in rural communities, and financial incentives for student transportation as concerns. The project revealed that rural health practitioners view IP placements as an avenue to address their recruitment and retention challenges. CONCLUSION: Coordination of potential IP education opportunities proved to be more difficult than anticipated. Time was a factor, coordination of student timetables in social work, nursing and human service was challenging, and there was a lack of support and commitment from decision-makers and stakeholders at all levels.

Follow-up phone calls after pediatric ambulatory surgery for tonsillectomy: what can we learn from families?

The purpose of this quality improvement study was to describe families' responses regarding the adequacy of the preoperative preparation provided in the Preoperative Assessment Clinic, and the necessity of two follow-up phone calls after pediatric ambulatory surgery for tonsillectomy with or without adenoidectomy (T+/-A). Using a questionnaire developed for the study, 90 families were contacted by phone on the first postoperative day and, of them, 73 were contacted a second time between the ninth and twelfth postoperative days. Families' responses were reported in four categories: (1) concerns, (2) use of resources, (3) adequacy of the preoperative teaching, and (4) necessity of the two postoperative phone calls. Results showed that, at the first phone call, a sore throat was reported as the most important concern followed by a decreased oral intake (ie, fluid, food, medicine), vomiting, and fever or "perceived fever." During the second phone call, a sore throat remained the most important concern followed by a decreased intake. Earache was the third highest concern and vomiting was then reported of concern by a minority of families. The most frequently consulted resource person for concerns was the physician on call for the otolaryngology service. Eighty-seven percent of families felt the preoperative preparation was adequate. For reasons of instructional and/or emotional support, 94% of families who responded reported that the first phone call was necessary and 68% reported that the second call was as well.