The Effects of the Covid-19 Pandemic on Afro-Caribbean Canadian Youth’s Mental Health and Well-being

Fiona Chrislyn Edwards

doi:10.25071/1929-8471.138

Auteurs-es

Fiona Chrislyn Edwards MacEwan University

DOI :

https://doi.org/10.25071/1929-8471.138

Résumé

The Black community has been disproportionately affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, both economically and mentally. In addition, Black youth have had the added burden of coping with anti-Black racism (ABR) in conjunction with school closures, social distancing, and isolation — all of which profoundly disrupted their everyday lives. This study investigates, from their own perspectives and experiences, how the pandemic has impacted the mental health and well-being of Afro-Caribbean Canadian youth (ACCY) between the ages of 16 and 18 in urban southern Ontario. The findings from this article are drawn from a doctoral dissertation project which identified the mental health experiences of ACCY and examined the ways in which these experiences shape their use of mental health services. The ACCY in this study lived in urban areas in southern Ontario, were using mental health services, and were accessing spiritual and religious supports. An interpretative phenomenological analysis (IPA) approach rooted in a Heideggerian hermeneutics was used, based upon six semi-structured interviews with three female and three male ACCY. Analysis of data followed IPA guidelines. The analysis of the interviews led to the identification of three major themes related to ACCY’s sense of mental health: feelings of loneliness and isolation; self-awareness; and race consciousness of systemic anti-Black racism. The information gleaned from this research provides important insight into ACCY’s mental health and the various barriers, including systemic ABR, that maintain disparities in their mental health. This knowledge has implications for mental health policies and practices with Black youth and can be used to reduce systemic inequity, promote good mental health, and better understand the needs of Black youth in future crisis situations.

Keywords: Mental health, well-being, COVID-19 pandemic, Black youth, systemic inequity.

Biographie de l'auteur-e

Fiona Chrislyn Edwards, MacEwan University

School of Social Work, MacEwan University, Edmonton

Références

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