Addressing international research challenges in child and adolescent mental health during global crises: experience and recommendations of the Co-SPACE international consortium
Year: 2025
Type: article
Abstract: During the most recent global crisis due to COVID-19 pandemic, mental health researchers globally were tasked with carrying out high-quality and responsive research to understand the changes and long-term trajectories in young people’s mental health symptoms. Comparative international longitudinal research has been recommended as a particularly promising avenue to understand pandemic impacts and facilitate global solutions. The Co-SPACE International Consortium comprises researchers from 14 sites who aimed to compare findings on the impact of the pandemic on young people and family mental health. This paper describes the process and challenges associated with the Consortium’s efforts to combine country-level data to produce global insights for research and clinical practice for the past three years. Several key challenges were identified, particularly about the conduct of international comparative research. These challenges concerned funding, ethics review, data sharing, variations in cultural and local contexts, lack of cross-culturally comparable or meaningful measures, research design, and dissemination. After considering these challenges, we provide a range of recommendations that provide a blueprint for the gathering of timely and robust evidence, the identification of global trends, the mobilisation of resources, and effective support to children and families in public health crises.
Language: English
Topic: COVID-19 and Mental Health
Subfield: Clinical Psychology
Field: Psychology
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: gold
Estimated APC paid: $3,190
Funders: Yale University, Child Study Center, Yale School of Medicine, Aarhus Universitet, National Center for Child Health and Development, UK Research and Innovation, National Institute for Health and Care Research, University of Oxford, Universiteit Leiden, University of New South Wales, Radboud Universiteit, Nederlandse Organisatie voor Wetenschappelijk Onderzoek, Universiti Sains Malaysia, Oxford Health NHS Foundation Trust, Medical Research Council, Economic and Social Research Council, National Health and Medical Research Council, Behavioural Science institute, Radboud University
Awards: Understanding Social Influences on Child PTSD Among Afghan Refugee Families Affected by Trauma, COVID-19: Supporting Parents, Adolescents and Children during Epidemics (Co-SPACE), G6660704951, Learning from the trajectories of mental health challenges for children, young people and parents over the course of the Covid-19 pandemic, G7231099200
OpenAlex ID: W4410860129