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The COVID-19 pandemic and resulting mitigation measures have led to increased vulnerabilities in early child development. However, research is scarce and there are no studies on the persistence of these losses three years into the pandemic among young children. To fill in this gap, we examined census-like evaluations of school readiness carried out among preschoolers in Uruguay. The assessments were carried out among 5 cohorts of 5-year-olds: who were assessed prior to the pandemic (2018, 2019); during the pandemic (2020, 2021); and after the health emergency declaration ended in Uruguay (2022). A total of 180,984 teacher evaluations were included covering cognitive, motor and socio-emotional development, as well as attitudes toward learning. Overall, we found that scores in most spheres of child development decreased from before to during the pandemic in 2020 and 2021. In 2022, scores returned to pre-pandemic levels. Our findings suggest the recovery of developmental losses among cohorts of children in kindergarten took more than two years in a country that experienced a mild-to-moderate impact of the COVID-19 pandemic., (© 2024. Society for Prevention Research.)

Objectives: This systematic review and meta-analysis aims to describe Canadian youth mental health during the COVID-19 pandemic, focusing on changes in anxiety and depressive symptoms and suicidality., Methods: We searched four databases up to February 2023 for longitudinal or repeated cross-sectional studies reporting on changes in depressive and anxiety symptoms, suicidality, or related services utilization among young people under 25 years old residing in Canada during the COVID-19 pandemic. Random-effects meta-analyses were performed for studies comparing depressive and anxiety symptoms from before to during the first, second, and third COVID-19 waves (up to June 2021), and between COVID-19 waves. Other studies were described narratively. Risk of bias was assessed using an adapted Joanna Briggs Institute Checklist., Synthesis: Of the 7916 records screened, 35 articles met inclusion criteria for this review. Included studies were highly heterogeneous in design, population, and type of change investigated, and many had a high risk of bias. The meta-analyses found that depressive symptoms worsened minimally from pre-pandemic to wave 1 but returned to pre-pandemic levels by wave 2. Anxiety symptoms were broadly comparable from pre-pandemic to waves 1 and 2 but worsened from waves 1 to 3 and from pre-pandemic to wave 1 for girls. The narrative review included several studies that provided inconclusive evidence of increases in services utilization., Conclusion: The current evidence is limited and highly heterogeneous, making it insufficient to draw definitive conclusions regarding the short- to medium-term impact of the pandemic on youth mental health in Canada. Obtaining better mental health surveillance among Canadian youth is imperative., (© 2024. The Author(s) under exclusive license to The Canadian Public Health Association.)

Background: The COVID-19 pandemic has raised concerns about parent and child mental health, especially within disadvantaged families. However, little is known about how parental stress and loneliness during the pandemic influenced their children and no studies have investigated if these associations could vary by socioeconomic status., Methods: In July to September 2021, a large representative sample of parents ( N  = 4,524) in Québec (Canada) reported on aspects of their own mental health and that of their 9-10 year old child. Outcome variables were child externalizing and internalizing symptoms. Exposure variables were changes in parental loneliness and parental stress since the onset of the pandemic. The moderator variable was cumulative socioeconomic risk. Multiple linear regression analyses were executed and adjusted for confounding factors., Results: Child internalizing symptoms were associated with higher levels of parental stress (β = 0.14, p <.001) and loneliness (β = 0.23, p <.001). Child externalizing symptoms were also associated with parental stress (β = 0.13, p <.001) and loneliness (β = 0.18, p <.001). Most of these associations were stronger within the most disadvantaged households., Limitations: The cross-sectional design does not allow interpretations about causality., Conclusions: Increases in parental stress and loneliness since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic would be detrimental to parent and child mental health. As these issues were amplified within families experiencing more socioeconomic adversities, our results can inform public policy to support families in times of crisis and direct resources to those most in need., Competing Interests: None., (© 2023 The Author(s).)

Purpose: To perform a systematic review of the literature and evaluate the return to play (RTP) time frame after a concussion diagnosis. Our secondary purpose was to analyze and compare different prognostic variables affecting concussions, time to return to school, time to symptom resolution of concussive symptoms, and time each patient spent in the RTP protocol., Methods: A PubMed, Scopus, Medline, Embase, and Cochrane Library database literature review was performed in August 2022. The studies needed to report, in days, the length of time a patient/athlete was removed from play due to concussion management. The Risk of Bias in Non-Randomized Studies of Interventions tool was used for risk of bias for each study, and Methodological Index for Non-Randomized Studies criteria were used for quality assessment., Results: There were 65 studies included in the systematic review and a total of 21,966 patients evaluated. The RTP time intervals ranged from 1 to 1,820 days, with 80.7% of the median RTP time frames for each study within 21 days. Preconcussion risk factors for prolonged RTP included female sex, younger age, presence of psychiatric disorders, and history of previous concussion. Postconcussion risk factors included severe symptom scores at initial clinic visit, loss of consciousness, nonelite athletes, and delayed removal from competition. The most common sports resulting in concussion were contact sports, most commonly football and soccer. Median time to return to school was 3 to 23 days. Median time to symptom resolution ranged from 2 to 11 days. Median time in RTP protocol was 1 to 6 days., Conclusions: Median time to return to sports after concussion is within 21 days in 80% of published studies., Level of Evidence: IV, systematic review of Level I to IV studies., (Copyright © 2022 Arthroscopy Association of North America. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Background: This article outlines the protocol for a trial to test the effectiveness of a nature-based intervention called Open Sky School to reduce mental health problems among elementary school children. Experimental studies show that contact with nature (e.g. walks in parks) improve mental health. A growing number of teachers have been applying outdoor education within the regular school curriculum and evidence suggests that such teaching methods could improve students' mental health but a randomized controlled trial has never been conducted., Methods: A two-arm clustered randomized controlled trial will be conducted in elementary schools across Québec, Canada. Following informed consent by teachers, parents and students, schools will be randomly assigned 1:1 to the intervention or the control group with a total of 2500 5-6 th grade students and 100 teachers expected to participate. The intervention will take place outdoors in a green-space (2 h per week for 12 weeks) and include a toolkit of 30 activities to foster well-being (e.g. mindfulness) and academic competencies (e.g. mathematics). Questionnaires will be administered to teachers and students before, immediately after and 3 months after the intervention. The primary outcome will be reductions of mental health problems in children from pre-to-post test (Social Behavior Questionnaire: self and teacher reports). Secondary outcomes include depression, positive and negative affect, nature connectedness, and pro-environmental behaviors among children. We will explore, immediate benefits on teacher's well-being and positive and negative affect and sustained benefits among students at 3 months follow-up. For the primary outcome, we will explore moderators including child's sex, child's disability status, the green-space of neighbourhoods, the school's socio-economic position and teacher's experience., Discussion: In conducting the first randomized controlled trial of the Open Sky School, our results could provide empirical evidence on the effectiveness of nature-based interventions in reducing mental health problems among elementary school children., Trial Registration: This study was registered with clinicaltrials.gov: NCT05662436 on December 22, 2022., (© 2023. The Author(s).)

Objectives: The COVID-19 pandemic has been associated with increased mental health problems. We investigated (1) associations between disordered eating in adolescence and mental health problems after one year of the pandemic and (2) the mechanisms explaining associations., Method: We analyzed data from a population-based birth cohort in Quebec, Canada (557 males and 759 females). High and low levels of disordered eating symptom trajectories were previously estimated (age 12, 15, 17, and 20 years). Anxiety, depression, non-suicidal self-injury, and suicidal ideation were assessed at 23 years (March-June 2021). Putative mediators included loneliness and social media use (age 22 years, July-August 2020). Analyses controlled for mental health and socio-economic status at age 10-12 years and were conducted for males and females separately., Results: Females in the high-level disordered eating symptom trajectory were at increased risk for non-suicidal self-injury (OR 1.60; 95% CI 1.02-2.52) and suicidal ideation (2.16; 1.31-3.57), whereas males were at increased risk for severe anxiety (2.49; CI 1.11-5.58). Males and females in the high-level trajectory were more likely to report severe depression (2.26; 1.14-5.92 and 2.15, 1.36-3.38 respectively). Among females, associations were partially explained (17-35%) by loneliness during the first 4 months of the pandemic., Conclusion: Young adults who experienced disordered eating as adolescents were at increased risk of mental health problems during the pandemic. Loneliness partially mediated the effect, suggesting that pandemic mitigation resulting in increased social isolation may have exacerbated mental health problems among women with a history of disordered eating., (© 2022. The Author(s) under exclusive license to The Canadian Public Health Association.)

The COVID-19 context has created the most severe disruption to education systems in recent history. Its impact on child development was estimated comparing two cohorts of 4- to 6-year-old Uruguayan children: control (n = 34,355, 48.87% girls) and COVID cohort (n = 30,158, 48.95% girls) assessed between 2018 and 2020 in three waves, by a routinely administered school readiness instrument in public preschools. Ethnicity information is not available. For the COVID cohort, losses were observed in Motor and Cognitive development, Attitudes towards learning, and Internalizing behavior (range 0.13 - 0.27 SD). Losses were less pronounced among children from higher socioeconomic schools. These results extend the literature on the consequences of the pandemic on learning and early child development., (© 2022 The Authors. Child Development © 2022 Society for Research in Child Development.)

In this study we explore the possibility that maternal depressive symptomatology and personality would influence parenting practices which would in turn influence their offspring's socio-emotional and cognitive-motor development. We used a large representative sample of Uruguayan children and their mothers. The Big Five Inventory (BFI), subscales of the Home Observation for Measurement of Environment (HOME), Ages & Stages Questionnaires - third edition (n = 3596), Child Behavior Checklist (n = 3750), and a sociodemographic (SES) questionnaire were administered. We found that favorable scores in child development measures were correlated with maternal openness, extraversion, conscientiousness, agreeableness, low neuroticism, depressive symptomatology, positive parenting practices and high income households. We then elaborated pathway models that allowed us to account for covariance between relevant variables. We found that openness was indirectly associated with aspects of both socioemotional and cognitive motor development via parenting practices and maternal depressive symptomatology. The association between SES and both child development outcomes was fully explained by intermediary variables. Collectively, our results provide support for Belsky's model of child development and can be used by professionals to better target interventions geared at infants and young children and their mothers., (Copyright © 2022 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Introduction: The COVID-19 pandemic has majorly disrupted many aspects of people's lives, provoking psychosocial distress among students. People's positive and negative attitudes towards the past, present and future were a dispositional pre-COVID-19 reality. Faced with a pandemic, people have reported disruptions in the speed of passing time. People can shift their attention more towards the past, present or future when major changes in society occur. These aspects of psychological time would be key to understanding the quality of psychosocial adjustment to the pandemic. We hypothesized that dispositional time attitudes impact psychosocial distress because they would trigger situational changes in our time perception and temporal focus., Methods: One hundred and forty-four university students in Uruguay responded to self-report questionnaires online while in-person classes were cancelled. Students reported on shifts in temporal focus, changes in time awareness and dispositional time attitudes. Reactive psychological, social and learning environment distress were reported., Results: Students reported substantial changes in time perception and temporal focus. A correlation matrix showed significant relationships between time attitudes, focus and awareness. For example, psychological distress was correlated with negative time attitudes, slower passage of time, boredom, blurred sense of time and shifting focus to the past. Mediation models were derived. The indirect effect of time attitudes on psychological distress was significant through past focus., Discussion: Dispositional time attitudes would impact students' capacity to cope with the pandemic. Situational shifts in temporal focus and perception were prevalent and can be viewed as temporal coping mechanisms in the wake of powerful societal change. Our mediation models showed that those with negative time attitudes experienced more psychological distress because they shifted their attention to the past. Future directions for research and practical implications are discussed., Competing Interests: Declaration of conflicting interests: The author(s) declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article., (© The Author(s) 2021.)

Introduction: Numerous studies suggest that social, enhancement, conformity and coping drinking motives each lead to unique behavioral patterns related to alcohol consumption. Recently it has been suggested to study specific coping motives that distinguish feelings of anxiety and depression. This study aims primarily to 1) psychometrically validate the recent five factor questionnaire of drinking motives among young French people, 2) explore differences in mean endorsements of motives across age and sex and 3) explore the concurrent validity of drinking motives by studying their associations with alcohol consumption behaviors., Methods: The French Modified Drinking Motives Questionnaire Revised and the Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test were administered to 314 university students and 193 high school students., Results: The 5-factor model of drinking motives provided a good fit to the data and a better fit than the 4-factor model. Conformity motives were more strongly endorsed among high school students than among university students (d=0.26). Social motives were more endorsed by men than by women (d=0.47), as were enhancement motives (d=0.48). Our study suggests that each of the studied motives transcribes a specific set of drinking behaviors., Conclusions: Researchers and practitioners could effectively use this conception of drinking motives in order to better understand and prevent problematic alcohol use among young people., (Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Anomalous or exceptional experiences are uncommon experiences which are usually interpreted as being paranormal by those who report them. These experiences have long remained difficult to explain, but current progress in cognitive neuroscience and psychoanalysis sheds light on the contexts in which they emerge, as well as on their underlying processes. Following a brief description of the different types of anomalous experiences, we underline how they can be better understood at the frontiers between psychoanalysis and cognitive neurosciences. In this regard, three main lines of research are discussed and illustrated, alongside clinical cases which come from a clinical service specializing in anomalous experiences. First, we study the links between anomalous experiences and hallucinatory processes, by showing that anomalous experiences frequently occur as a specific reaction to negative life events, in which case they mainly take the form of non-pathological hallucinations. Next, we propose to analyze these experiences from the perspective of their traumatic aspects and the altered states of consciousness they often imply. Finally, these experiences are considered to be the consequence of a hypersensitivity that can be linked to an increase in psychic permeability. In conclusion, these different processes lead us to consider anomalous experiences as primary forms of symbolization and transformation of the subjective experience, especially during, or after traumatic situations.

This article proposes a modular, computer-based methodology to describe and compare medical problems using data mining methods. The methodology focuses on a mathematical formulation of typical classification problems, systematic extraction of interpretable features from time series, and an evaluation adapted to problem-specific preferences and limitations (computational power, interpretability, etc.). The approach is applied to instrumented gait analysis and to the individual design of myoelectric controllers for hand prostheses.

A methodological modular framework is presented for automated assessment of gait patterns. The processing steps of data selection, gait parameter calculation and evaluation are not limited to a specific field of application and are largely independent of case-based clinical expert knowledge. For these steps, a variety of mathematical methods was used and the validity of the approach to assess gait parameters tested by applying it to the clinical problem of Botulinum Toxin A (BTX-A) treatment of the spastic equinus foot. A set of 3670 parameters was ranked by relevance for classification of a group of 42 diplegic cerebral palsy (CP) patients and an age-matched reference group. The same procedure was performed for pre- and post-therapeutic data sets of these patients. Gait parameters of high relevance coincided well with results of previous studies based on partly manual and more subjective parameter selection. A norm distance measure is introduced to facilitate the quantification of deviations from a normal walking pattern and can be used as an overall scalar measure to evaluate differences in gait patterns or as a set of measures attributing each joint angle separately.

A modular methodology for automated gait data evaluation: The aim of Instrumented Gait Analysis is to measure data such as joint kinematics or kinetics during gait in a quantitative way. The data evaluation for clinical purposes is often performed by experienced physicians (diagnosis of specific motion dysfunction, planning and validation of therapy). Due to subjective evaluation and complexity of the pathologies, there exists no objective, standardized data analysis method for these tasks. This article covers the development of a modular, computer-based methodology to quantify the degree of pathological gait in comparison to normal behavior, as well as to automatically search for interpretable gait abnormalities and to visualize the results. The outcomes are demonstrated with two different patient groups.