Multidisciplinary research priorities for the COVID-19 pandemic
Authors: Ilina Singh, Gabriela Pavarini, Damian Juma, Mychelle Farmer
Journal: The Lancet Psychiatry (2020)

We appreciate the proactive outlook of Emily Holmes and colleagues1Holmes EA O'Connor RC Perry VH et al.Multidisciplinary research priorities for the COVID-19 pandemic: a call for action for mental health science.Lancet Psychiatry. 2020; (published online April 15.)https://doi.org/10.1016/S2215-0366(20)30168-1Summary Full Text Full Text PDF PubMed Scopus (3813) Google Scholar in setting priorities for mental health science in the COVID-19 pandemic in their Lancet Psychiatry Position Paper.1Holmes EA O'Connor RC Perry VH et al.Multidisciplinary research priorities for the COVID-19 pandemic: a call for action for mental health science.Lancet Psychiatry. 2020; (published online April 15.)https://doi.org/10.1016/S2215-0366(20)30168-1Summary Full Text Full Text PDF PubMed Scopus (3813) Google Scholar A paper of this kind necessarily uses a broad brush, and we agree particularly with the need for harmonised data and interdisciplinarity. We further agree that the pandemic is likely to have pervasive and diverse effects on the mental health of young people globally, including those in education and those not in education. Measures must be taken to ensure young people's resilience during this pandemic. However, mental health science must go further, to fully account for young people's values and capabilities. In what follows, we suggest how to do it, through working collaboratively with young people. First, mental health science should innovate measurement across the continuum of mental health and illness to reflect outcomes that young people find meaningful, relevant, and empowering. The measurement of standard mental health concepts is important. Equally important are novel measures for aspects of positive functioning—courage, compassion, hope, agency—that young people value highly and that matter to the current crisis.2Liem GAD Martin AJ Nair E Bernardo ABI Hidajat Prasetya P Content and structure of values in middle adolescence: evidence from Singapore, the Philippines, Indonesia, and Australia.J Cross Cult Psychol. 2011; 42: 146-154Crossref Scopus (28) Google Scholar If flourishing is not measured as part of mental health in the evolving pandemic, we won't see it. Second, young people's existing networks and initiatives should be harnessed, and young people should be empowered to co-design and co-implement research on mental health, during and beyond the COVID-19 crisis. Worldwide, young people are leading the crisis response in their communities.3Wickramanayake J Meet 10 young people leading the COVID-19 response in their communities.https://www.un.org/africarenewal/web-features/coronavirus/meet-10-young-people-leading-covid-19-response-their-communitiesDate: April 3, 2020Date accessed: April 20, 2020Google Scholar Young people in Sudan have launched #221CHECK, a platform to combat coronavirus misinformation online. Our group of Young Leaders for the 2018 Lancet Commission on Global Mental Health and Sustainable Development have led webinars in low-income and middle-income countries to share knowledge and experiences around the pandemic. Third, mental health science should continuously evaluate the acceptability and trustworthiness of digital interventions that are directed towards young people at global and national levels. Scarcity of evidence is not the only problem in digital mental health. Emerging studies in our group and elsewhere suggest that young people have considerable concerns about the ethical and moral aspects of digital mental health.4Kretzschmar K Tyroll H Pavarini G Manzini A Singh I Can your phone be your therapist? Young people's ethical perspectives on the use of fully automated conversational agents (chatbots) in mental health support.Biomed Inform Insights. 2019; 11117822261982908Crossref Google Scholar Young people should contribute to digital mental health research and innovation from the outset, to avoid interventions that fail to engage and thereby fail to deliver on potential. Mental health science should motivate and mobilise young people's agency during this time of pervasive uncertainty and lack of control. Young people are a strong asset for science, and a considerable source of global resilience in this crisis and in its aftermath. We declare no competing interests. Multidisciplinary research priorities for the COVID-19 pandemicMultidisciplinary research priorities for the COVID-19 pandemicMultidisciplinary research priorities for the COVID-19 pandemic: a call for action for mental health scienceMultidisciplinary research priorities for the COVID-19 pandemicMultidisciplinary research priorities for the COVID-19 pandemicMultidisciplinary: research priorities for the COVID-19 pandemicMultidisciplinary research priorities for the COVID-19 pandemicMultidisciplinary research priorities for the COVID-19 pandemicMultidisciplinary research priorities for the COVID-19 pandemicMultidisciplinary research priorities for the COVID-19 pandemicMultidisciplinary research priorities for the COVID-19 pandemic – Authors' reply