The Canadian Journal of Psychiatry

Concerns surrounding the mental health and well-being of Canadian postsecondary students have increased in recent years, with data suggesting increases in the prevalence of self-reported stress and psychological distress. Strategies to address postsecondary mental health have emerged at the national, provincial, and institutional levels. While reviews of the academic literature on the subject have been conducted, a detailed review of the grey literature has not. The objective of this study was to map the current state of grey literature related to current or recommended action supporting postsecondary mental health and well-being in Canada, with a focus on policy documents and guiding frameworks.

We conducted a review following Arksey and O’Malley’s 5-step framework for scoping reviews, as well as the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses guidelines. Our search was restricted to documents with a primary focus on postsecondary mental health, a national or provincial scope, and publication date between 2000 and 2019.

While a national policy or guiding framework applicable to all postsecondary institutions across Canada does not yet exist, recommendations for policy at both the national and provincial levels were well aligned, emphasizing the need for a comprehensive approach to addressing mental health services through the use of a whole-campus approach that encompasses both upstream and downstream services.

Postsecondary sector stakeholders should consider how existing policy documents and guiding frameworks can be used to inform evidence-based, institutionally specific action on postsecondary mental health. More work is required to align the fragmented action occurring across Canada and incentivize postsecondary institutions to create a sustainable, effective strategy to address the increasingly complex and unique mental health needs of their students, staff, and faculty.

The Canadian 24-Hour Movement Guidelines for Children and Youth recommend at least 60 minutes of physical activity per day, 2 hours or less of recreational screen time per day, and 9 to 11 hours of sleep per night for 5 to 13 years old and 8 to 10 hours per night for 14 to 17 years old. This study examined the association between meeting these guidelines and psychological distress among adolescents.

The present cross-sectional sample included 6,364 students aged 11 to 20 years from the 2017 Ontario Student Drug Use and Health Survey. This provincially representative school-based survey is based on a 2-stage cluster design. A confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) was first conducted to confirm the factor structure of the K6, and structural equation modeling adjusted for age, sex, ethnoracial background, subjective socioeconomic status, and body mass index z-score was used to investigate the association between meeting the 24-Hour Movement Guidelines and K6 factors among adolescents.

The CFA demonstrated that a 2-factor model (representing anxiety and depressive symptoms) of the K6 fit the data well. The anxiety and depression items demonstrated a composite reliability (Cronbach’s α) of 0.86 and 0.83, respectively, indicating a high level of internal consistency. Compared to meeting none of the recommendations, meeting all 3 movement behavior recommendations was associated with lower anxiety (β = −0.076; P = 0.028) and depressive symptoms (β = −0.067; P = 0.028). Meeting the screen time + sleep duration recommendations had the strongest association with anxiety (β = −0.157; P < 0.001) and depressive symptoms (β = −0.139; P < 0.001), followed by meeting the sleep duration recommendation only for both anxiety (β = −0.135; P < 0.001) and depressive symptoms (β = −0.106; P < 0.001).

Meeting the 24-Hour Movement Guidelines was associated with lower anxiety and depressive symptoms among adolescents, and these associations appear mainly driven by meeting the sleep duration recommendation.

The coronavirus 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has resulted in profound global impact, with older adults at greater risk of serious physical health outcomes. It is essential to also understand generational differences in psychosocial impacts to identify appropriate prevention and intervention targets. Across generational groups, this study examined: (1) rates of precautions and adaptive and maladaptive health behaviors, (2) differences in levels of anxiety, and (3) rates of COVID-related concerns during Wave 1 of COVID-19 in Canada.

We analyzed data from 2 Canadian population-based data sets: the Canadian Perspective Survey Series: Impact of COVID-19 survey (N = 4,627; March 29 to April 3, 2020), and Crowdsourcing: Impacts of COVID-19 on Canadians—Your Mental Health (N = 45,989; April 24 to May 11, 2020).

We categorized generational age group. Participants self-reported changes in behaviors and COVID-related concerns, and a validated measure assessed anxiety symptoms.

There are generational differences in behavioral responses to the pandemic. Adaptive health habits (e.g., exercise) were comparable across groups, while changes in maladaptive health habits (e.g., substance use) were highest among younger age groups, particularly Millennials (15 to 34 years old). COVID-related precautions were also highest among the younger generations, with Generation X (35 to 54 years old) exhibiting the highest rate of precautionary behavior. Results also revealed that the highest rate of clinically significant anxiety is among Millennials (36.0%; severe anxiety = 15.7%), and the younger generations have the highest rates of COVID-related concerns.

These early data are essential in understanding at-risk groups given the unpredictable nature of the pandemic and its potential long-term implications.

The potential metabolic adverse effects of second-generation antipsychotics (SGA) need to be monitored. The Canadian Alliance for Monitoring Effectiveness and Safety of Antipsychotics (CAMESA) offers guidelines for this purpose. We aimed to evaluate the long-term rates of youths receiving monitoring in mental health clinics and document the factors that may influence them.

The charts of 180 patients (13.3 ± 3.1 years, 54.4% males) receiving SGA treatment for the first time between January 2016 and June 2018 were reviewed. Monitoring was divided into baseline and 1- to 6-month and 9- to 24-month periods. Population under study was stratified into children (4 to 12 years) and adolescents (13 to 18 years). Sociodemographic characteristics, psychiatric diagnosis and comorbidities, prescribed SGAs and comedications, anthropometric measures (AM), blood pressure (BP), blood tests (BT), electrocardiogram, and the psychiatrist’s years of practice were collected. Cross tables were used to present the monitoring rates. Categories were compared by covariate analysis. Rates of patients monitored across categories were compared using Fisher exact test.

Monitoring rates for AM, BT, and BP were 55%, 47.8%, and 46.7% at baseline; 50%, 41.7%, and 45.2% at 1 to 6 months; and 47.2%, 41.5%, and 40.6% at 9 to 24 months, respectively. Higher monitoring rates were significantly associated with adolescent status (baseline, 1 to 6 months), a diagnosis of psychotic and/or affective disorder (baseline, 1 to 6 months, 9 to 24 months), having ≤1 psychiatric comorbidities (1 to 6 months), high SGA dose (baseline, 1 to 6 months), and clinician’s experience (baseline, 9 to 24 months). Significantly lower monitoring rates were associated with the psychostimulant/atomoxetine comedication (baseline, 1 to 6 months, 9 to 24 months).

Five years after publication of the CAMESA guidelines, metabolic monitoring is conducted for less than half of patients. In our sample, age, diagnostic category, psychiatric comorbidities, SGA dose, clinician’s experience, and comedications influenced the monitoring rates. Major progress still needs to be made before reaching a satisfactory level of monitoring.

Oppositional defiant disorder (ODD) consists of irritable and oppositional behaviors, both of which are associated with different problems. However, it is unclear whether irritability and oppositionality enable classification of clinic-referred children and adolescents into mutually exclusive groups (e.g., high in oppositionality, low in irritability), and whether this classification is clinically meaningful.

As part of a clinical protocol, ODD behaviors were assessed at referral through a comprehensive diagnostic interview and questionnaire. Parent- and teacher-reported ODD of 2,185 clinic-referred 5- to 18-year-olds (36.9% females) were used in latent class analysis. Resulting ODD classes were compared, concurrently at referral, and, longitudinally at the end of the diagnostic and treatment process, on various clinically relevant measures that were completed by various informants, including mental health problems, global functioning, and Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM) classifications.

Three classes emerged with high, moderate, and low levels of both irritability and oppositionality. At referral, the high class experienced the highest levels of mental health problems and DSM classifications. Importantly, all ODD classes defined at intake were predictive of diagnostic and treatment outcomes months later. Notably, the high class had higher rates of clinician-based classifications of ODD and conduct disorder, and the lowest levels of pre- and posttreatment global functioning. Additionally, the low class exhibited higher rates of generalized anxiety disorder and fear disorders.

Irritability and oppositionality co-occur in clinic-referred youths to such an extent that classification based on these behaviors does not add to clinical inference. Instead, findings suggest that the overall ODD severity at referral should be used as a guidance for treatment.

Second-generation antipsychotics (SGAs) are used for a variety of mental disorders and are associated with cardiometabolic side effects in children. The objective of this study was to assess the cardiovascular health of children with mental disorders that are SGA-treated or SGA-naive.

SGA-treated (n = 47) or SGA-naive (n = 37) children (aged 6 to 18 years) with mental disorders and control children (n = 83, no mental disorder) underwent assessment for cardiac function and morphology by echocardiography, aortic pulse wave velocity (PWV), and carotid intima-media thickness (cIMT). Body mass index (BMI) z-scores, waist circumference z-scores, systolic and diastolic blood pressure (BP) percentiles for height and sex, and fasting plasma glucose, insulin, triglycerides, and cholesterol were also assessed. Differences between SGA-treated, SGA-naive, and control children were assessed by linear and log-linear regression models.

SGA-treated children had greater BMI z-scores and overweight/obesity (BMI ≥ 85th percentile for age and sex) and hypertension than SGA-naive and control children. The PWV geometric mean was 11.1% higher in SGA-treated (95%CI, 3.95 to 18.77) and 12.9% higher in SGA-naive children (95% CI, 5.60 to 20.59) compared to controls in models adjusted for age, sex, BMI, and systolic BP percentile. Left ventricular (LV) end-diastolic dimension/body surface area (BSA), LV end-systolic dimension/BSA, and LV ejection fraction were lower in SGA-treated and SGA-naive children compared to controls in models adjusted for sex and age.

Children with mental disorders have greater arterial stiffness and altered cardiac structure/function than children with no mental health diagnosis. SGA treatment in children is not associated with alterations in cardiovascular structure/function.