Background Physical distancing and health measures, such as school closures and work-at-home mandates, implemented to mitigate the transmission of COVID-19, will likely have far-reaching impacts on children’s psychosocial health and well-being. We aimed to examine extant literature on pandemics and epidemics to draw comparisons regarding COVID-19 on children’s psychosocial health and secondary outcomes, including nutritional, financial and child safety outcomes. Methods Articles were searched within the Medline, Global Health, PsycINFO, and CINAHL databases on 11 June 2020. Grey literature was also examined from the World Health Organization (WHO) and United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) until 24 July 2020. Results A total of 8,332 articles were screened for eligibility by two independent reviewers. Of these, 7,919 and 413 articles were from academic databases and additional sources, respectively. Results on child outcomes were extracted and collated. Seventy-three articles met inclusion criteria. Children have faced significant challenges with 12% of articles indicating loneliness/depression, 19% anxiety, 7% grief, 10% stress-related disorders, 25% child abuse, 8% family conflict, and 12% stigma during pandemics/epidemics. Furthermore, 25% of articles indicated economic challenges, 23% negative academic impacts, 33% improper nutrition, and 21% reduced opportunities for play/increased screen time. These challenges were exacerbated among children who were female, have a disability, or who were a migrant/displaced child. Conclusions Pandemics and epidemics have had diverse and widespread negative consequences for children. Findings can inform the development and implementation of resources during the COVID-19 pandemic to protect child health and well-being.

Currently, no synthesis of in-school policies, practices and teachers and school staff’s food allergy-related knowledge exists. We aimed to conduct a scoping review on in-school food allergy management, and perceived gaps or barriers in these systems. We conducted a PRISMA-ScR-guided search for eligible English or French language articles from North America, Europe, or Australia published in OVID-MedLine, Scopus, and PsycINFO databases. Two reviewers screened 2010 articles’ titles/abstracts, with 77 full-text screened. Reviewers differed by language. Results were reported descriptively and thematically. We included 12 studies. Among teachers and school staff, food allergy experiences, training, and knowledge varied widely. Food allergy experience was reported in 10/12 studies (83.4%); 20.0–88.0% had received previous training (4/10 studies; 40.0%) and 43.0–72.2% never had training (2/10 studies; 20.0%). In-school policies including epinephrine auto-injector (EAI) and emergency anaphylaxis plans (EAP) were described in 5/12 studies (41.7%). Educational interventions (8/12 studies; 66.7%) increased participants’ knowledge, attitudes, beliefs, and confidence to manage food allergy and anaphylaxis vs. baseline. Teachers and school staff have more food allergy-related experiences than training and knowledge to manage emergencies. Mandatory, standardized training including EAI use and evaluation, and the provision of available EAI and EAPs may increase school staff emergency preparedness.

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Context: Physical distancing and health measures, such as school closures and work-at-home mandates, implemented to mitigate the transmission of COVID-19, will likely have far-reaching impacts on children’s psychosocial health and well-being. Objective: We aimed to examine extant literature on pandemics to identify the expected impact of COVID-19 on children’s psychosocial health and secondary outcomes, including nutritional, financial and child safety outcomes. Data Sources: Articles were searched within the Medline, Global Health, PsycINFO, and CINAHL databases on June 11th, 2020. Gray literature was also examined from the World Health Organization (WHO) and United Nations International Fund (UNICEF) until July 24th, 2020. Study Selection: A total of 8332 articles were screened for eligibility by two independent reviewers. Of these, 7,919 and 413 articles were from academic databases and additional sources, respectively. Data Extraction: Results on child outcomes were extracted and collated. Results: Seventy-three articles met inclusion criteria. Children have faced significant challenges with 12% of total articles indicating loneliness/depression, 21% anxiety, 7% grief, 10% stress-related disorders, 25% child abuse, 8% family conflict, and 12% stigma during pandemics/epidemics. Furthermore, 25% of articles indicated economic challenges, 23% negative academic impacts, 33% improper nutrition, and 21% reduced opportunities for play/increased screen time. These challenges were exacerbated among children who were female, having a disability, or being a migrant/displaced child. Conclusion: Pandemics and epidemics have had diverse and widespread negative consequences for children. Findings can inform the development and implementation of resources during the COVID-19 pandemic to protect child health and well-being.