Table 3.

Evidence-based recommendations for future research, policymaking, and practice.

Recommendations for future research, policymaking, and practice
	•Conducting research using longitudinal/cohort designs to understand temporal changes and long-term effects on CAMH (Chawla et al., 2021; Cunning and Hodes, 2022; Elharake et al., 2022; Hossain et al., 2020; Ma et al., 2021; Oliveira et al., 2022; Panchal et al., 2021; Sanja et al., 2021) •Using representative samples of children and adolescent populations rather than using small, non-representative samples, or sub-groups (Elharake et al., 2022; Nearchou et al., 2020) •Examining the biopsychosocial determinants of CAMH during and after COVID-19 pandemic to explore specific risk and protective factors (Elharake et al., 2022; Nearchou et al., 2020; Samji et al., 2021) •Applying appropriate psychometric tools for CAMH problems with standardized cut-off values (Chai et al., 2021; Ma et al., 2021; Nearchou et al., 2020; Oliveira et al., 2022) •Exploring the impacts of COVID-19 on education, work, and living conditions and their associations with CAMH (Bussières et al., 2021) •Investigating the impacts of parents’ psychosocial health and family relationships on CAMH during COVID-19 (Bussières et al., 2021) •Studying the psychosocial correlates of pandemic-related events and their impacts on CAMH (Chawla et al., 2021; Cunning and Hodes, 2022) •Investigating the persistence of psychosocial symptomology or development of mental disorders in the future (Panchal et al., 2021; Samji et al., 2021; Sanja et al., 2021) •Strengthening research capacities of the researchers and institutions on CAMH research in the context of COVID-19 (Sanja et al., 2021) •Emphasizing younger children's mental health research- an area with little evidence but high significance for long-term impacts (Ma et al., 2021) •Examining psychiatric comorbidities alongside identified physical and mental health problems (Ma et al., 2021) •Examining the role of timing and context of studies (e.g., studied undertaken during lockdown vs. after returning to school) on CAMH (Samji et al., 2021) •Exploring pre-pandemic and existing mental health gaps to develop stronger mental health systems in the future (Elharake et al., 2022; Samji et al., 2021) •Conducting implementation research on mental health services for children and adolescents emphasizing trends, barriers, and facilitators of mental health utilization in different contexts (Elharake et al., 2022; Hossain et al., 2020; Mohd et al., 2022)
	•Improving social determinants of CAMH as a local and global health priority (Abrams and Szefler, 2020; Ashcroft et al., 2021; Elharake et al., 2022; Hossain et al., 2020; Racine et al., 2021; Smitherman et al., 2021) •Integrating clinical and psychosocial interventions in public health and child health policies and programs with special focus on targeted mental health components whenever possible (Boldt et al., 2021; Hossain et al., 2020; Mohd et al., 2022; Nearchou et al., 2020) •Establishing and strengthening mental health safety nets for children and adolescents (Elharake et al., 2022) •Psychoeducational interventions on pandemic preparedness and mental health promotion for children and adolescents engaging parents, family members, teachers, and other stakeholders (Chai et al., 2021; Cunning and Hodes, 2022; Panchal et al., 2021; Panda et al., 2021; Sanja et al., 2021) •Designing and implementing physical activity-based interventions that may improve psychosocial outcomes alongside overall health and wellbeing (Chawla et al., 2021; Jones et al., 2021; Marchi et al., 2021; Oliveira et al., 2022; Panchal et al., 2021; Panda et al., 2021) •Addressing food insecurity and nutritional problems that may influence mental health outcomes (Elharake et al., 2022; Panda et al., 2021; Zemrani et al., 2021) •Providing extensive and integrative care for children with special needs ensuring mental wellbeing (Asbury et al., 2021; Panchal et al., 2021) •Providing social support, social connectedness, peer-networking, and social interventions for improving prosocial coping mechanisms among children and adolescents with poor mental health (Panchal et al., 2021; Panda et al., 2021; Preston and Rew, 2022; Samji et al., 2021) •Educating and engaging parents on positive parenting and mental health promotion (Chai et al., 2021; Marchi et al., 2021; Panda et al., 2021) •Providing family-based interventions for holistic mental health development of children, adolescents, and their family caregivers (Chai et al., 2021; Chawla et al., 2021; Marchi et al., 2021; Panchal et al., 2021; Panda et al., 2021) •Engaging academic institutions and providers for delivering nonpharmacological mental health education and services (Panda et al., 2021) •Developing public health messages and programs emphasizing positive psychology and better mental health (Cunning and Hodes, 2022; Panchal et al., 2021; Racine et al., 2021; Samji et al., 2021) •Leveraging evidence-based digital approaches for delivering online education ensuring optimal mental health of the young learners (Panda et al., 2021) •Organizing safe and planned school opening and resuming in-person/routine activities ensuring public health compliance for better psychosocial outcomes (Panda et al., 2021; Racine et al., 2021) •Funding mental health services for children and adolescents ensuring wider access and sustainability (Panchal et al., 2021) •Promoting problem solving skills and empowerment programs among children and adolescents (Oliveira et al., 2022; Panda et al., 2021) •Facilitating recreational activities such as reading books, story reading/telling, listening to music, spending time on hobbies (Marchi et al., 2021; Panda et al., 2021) •Restoring mental health services and increasing access to mental health care (Cunning and Hodes, 2022; Mohd et al., 2022; Sanja et al., 2021) •Adopting digital mental health resources and services for improving mental health access and utilization in children and adolescents (Jones et al., 2021; Oliveira et al., 2022; Panchal et al., 2021; Panda et al., 2021; Racine et al., 2021; Samji et al., 2021) •Providing special attention to early childhood mental health development interventions (Elharake et al., 2022) •Restoring and improving child protection and referral services (Katz and Fallon, 2021; Renov et al., 2021; Viner et al., 2022) •Empowering health and other care providers for addressing CAMH problems through capacity building exercises, developing evidence-based practice guidelines, and mobilizing care resources (M. Hossain et al., 2020; Panchal et al., 2021; Sanja et al., 2021) •Examining and implementing evidence-based guidance on screen time, social media and internet use that may protect mental health and wellbeing (Chai et al., 2021; Chawla et al., 2021; Marchi et al., 2021) •Strengthening public mental health services for rural and other marginalized population groups (Elharake et al., 2022; Hossain et al., 2020)