Understanding and mitigating the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on young people, families and school environments in remote regions

Google translate: The COVID-19 pandemic and the resulting measures have important consequences on the health of young people and families, as well as on school environments. Despite these difficulties, the containment measures have generated certain positive impacts for young people and families, such as an increase in quality time spent with family, a reduction in stress related to travel and social commitments, as well as an involvement increase of parents in their children's school activities. The impact of the pandemic on young people and families is therefore varied and depends on several vulnerability factors. In such a context, this qualitative study will make it possible, through 73 interviews, to highlight the discourse of young people, parents and school staff in Saguenay-Lac-Saint-Jean (Quebec) on the consequences of pandemic on their health and their adaptation to it, with regard to social, academic and digital inequalities. It will be conducted in collaboration with two school service centers (CSS) in the region through individual (parents) and group (students and school staff) interviews in elementary and secondary schools. This project offers a promising avenue to better understand the consequences of the pandemic on the health of school actors in remote areas, a subject that has not been studied much to date. It will identify the strategies that seem most effective in dealing with inequalities in schools and the consequences of the pandemic. This data can be integrated into the support services offered by educational establishments with a view to improving the quality and effectiveness of the assistance offered to young people and their families during and after the pandemic.]