For a few years now, IWES’ Research & Evaluation (R&E) division has worked with adolescents ages 14-16 as a part of the Catapult study, our local implementation of the Global Early Adolescent Study (GEAS) conducted in partnership with Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and collaborating research teams around the world. In a previous newsletter we’ve shared reflections from young people about their experiences during the COVID-19 pandemic as a part of a sub-study of the GEAS project, and today we’re sharing a special Part Two of the sub-study to provide even more insight.

In the first round of focus group conversations that took place in November 2020—less than a year after the first case of COVID-19 was reported in New Orleans—we learned that –

• youth were both well aware and well informed about the pandemic, as well as strategies to keep themselves and their families safe

• students struggled significantly with the move to remote learning as a result of the pandemic, especially with a lack of resources, motivation, and close connections with either teachers or peers

• youth lamented losing both social connections and the “normal” high school experience and expressed a strong desire for resources to help cope with both stress and grief

The second round of focus group conversations took place a little over a year later in December 2021. Three virtual focus group discussions were held with students—now in high school—to better understand the specific challenges brought on by the pandemic, as well as the implications for their emotional well-being and academic success. The focus group discussion questions explored several topics including: how their COVID-19 experience has changed compared to the start of the pandemic; current health safety behaviors; thoughts about vaccinations; trusted sources of health information; thoughts about school; interpersonal relationships and communication; self-care practices and needs; and how they perceive their future endeavors could be impacted by the pandemic.

As a point of context, at the time of our second conversation, the city of New Orleans no longer had a mask mandate, yet masks were still required in schools and hospitals. Additionally, the vaccine mandate was still in effect and weekly COVID-19 screenings for students and staff took place in schools. This is in contrast to our first conversation with students. Vaccines were not yet available and the city was only just beginning to ease restrictions on the number of people allowed to gather indoors. Additionally, students were still attending school virtually.

Findings

One year after our initial conversations with GEAS participants about their COVID-19 experiences, we returned to explore their current experiences, what has changed for them, and what persists. Of our three focus groups, one group of young men described their experiences as “a little bit better…regulations and everything, a little bit lighter now,” and that “we go out more now and it’s a lot better without the masks.” Still, others felt that not much had changed, that “it's been pretty much the same, still following the same practices that I was when COVID started.” Generally, there was a range of feelings expressed when participants were asked about how the pandemic affected their lives in the six months leading up to this conversation. One participant shared how they’ve “grown to dislike it [the pandemic]” more as the time has passed, while another shared how “it was so bad at first and like nobody really knew what was actually going on. It's kind of like everybody got a better knowledge of what's going on right now.”

Vaccines

When asked about perspectives regarding the vaccine, feedback was overwhelmingly positive, recounting “a lot more people [are] vaccinated…we have better and more healthy lives,” as well as, “because we all got vaccinated as soon as we could…we have been able to see each other more now.” Some students described a more cautious approach. One student in particular shared, “the vaccine will slow [the pandemic] down, and like make it milder, but…it doesn't make you invincible. And as people get the vaccine, and they go out into more social places…that furthers the spread, and keeps it longer…[the vaccine] will definitely slow down the pandemic some…new variants come out…so it's kind of just like a cycle.” Additionally, some students felt the vaccine would contribute to the eventual end of the pandemic. When asked how they people get information about COVID-19 and the vaccine, respondents described more trust in family and friends as sources of COVID information, with hesitancy to trust the angle news media may be taking. However, a few students did share that opinions about the vaccine varied within their own households.

Relationships

For the youth we spoke to, communication is still largely through social media. But with school being back in person some students shared that they are able to communicate with their friends in person again now. One youth shared how they’ve “started kind of taking the initiative” to reach out to their family more since the pandemic started. While some students have found it easy to jump back into relationships with their friends and families as they were pre-pandemic, others found it harder to recreate those connections. One group of young men described their relationships as overwhelmingly strained, falling out of contact with previous friends and limiting their regular contact with all but the closest friends and family members. One young man shared, “Once I stop seeing somebody, if they’re not related, I'm probably not going to reach out…I’m not that kind of a person to rekindle a friendship.” Several others agreed, sharing “I haven’t been keeping in touch with many people. I hardly talk to anyone anymore at all.” Reflecting on their pandemic experiences as a whole, some positive perspectives young people lifted up included that “I had time to myself, which was cool. It's non-existent anymore,” and another youth appreciated “advances for humanity in general…like how fast we could now create vaccines."

Stressors

A few respondents shared stressors about the pandemic itself, but significantly more expressed stress about re-integrating into in-person education after virtual and hybrid learning. Several students reflected on an increased workload in person, stating that “school is a very nerve-wracking environment…the stuff that I really want to do, and that I'm passionate about, has been very greatly hindered by having to be there all that time.” Other respondents expressed gratitude regarding the return to in-person education, especially that, “I do have friends that I can talk to and, you know, teachers that respect me and aren't just, totally giving me busy work 24/7 and not giving any meaningful lectures with student and teacher interactions.”

Still, other students shared the challenge to break from unproductive habits after spending so much time learning at home. Several students expressed doubts about how useful their education would be in preparing them for the future, both virtually and in person, with one young man sharing “School is very tedious…I feel like I go over there every day, do the same thing over and over again…I'm doing busy work. And like doing an unimportant task well doesn't make it important.” Another student shared, “I don't feel like they were really ever teaching me anything,” whether at home or in person. While another young man shared that despite the various changes and challenges of the new school format, “it’s good because at least we were able to be a part of the class.” Another student shared a similar hopeful sentiment when pondering how the pandemic has impacted their future and stated that “…the same thing with virtual school, it just made us more prepared for if those things were to happen again.”

Self-care

We also asked students about how they care for themselves. Self-care practices included:

• Personal strategies: such as taking time, drawing, listening to music, and playing video games

• Social strategies: such as talking out problems with friends and drawing on the support of family. Similar to our previous conversation, youth defined familial and non-familial support as invaluable to them during this time.

We continue to learn so much from our youth participants during these focus group conversations, and, more importantly, we are able to see just how resilient and adaptable youth have been and continue to be. We have all been weathering the impacts of COVID-19 for over two years, and in a time of such great adversity, it’s particularly important to lift up the voices of those among us, like young people, whose experiences speak volume to the large-scale work that needs to be done to ensure health, well-being, and resilience. As we continue to conduct research on how young people and their respective communities are being impacted, we are reminded of the importance of not just gathering information but devising plans for response and support. We plan to delve deeper into our findings in publications to come and will work closely with Johns Hopkins and GEAS collaborators to share narratives comparing what young people shared in New Orleans with what has been shared by other young people globally.

To learn more about Catapult: Global Early Adolescent Study (GEAS), please contact Gabriella Roude, Research & Evaluation Manager.