ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Public Health
Sec. Public Health Policy
Volume 13 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fpubh.2025.1637153
This article is part of the Research TopicNeurodevelopmental Disabilities in Childhood and Adolescence: Innovative Policy and ProgramsView all articles
One size does not fit all: A qualitative exploration of the experiences of Canadian youth with neurodevelopmental disabilities during the COVID-19 pandemic
Provisionally accepted
Brittany Finlay1*
Ashish Seth1Genevieve Currie1,2Christiane Roth1Anne Hudon3
Matthew Hunt4
Lucyna Lach5
David B Nicholas6
Keiko Shikako4
Jennifer Zwicker1,7- 1School of Public Policy, University of Calgary, Calgary, Canada
- 2Mount Royal University School of Nursing & Midwifery, Calgary, Canada
- 3Universite de Montreal Faculte de Medecine, Montreal, Canada
- 4McGill University School of Physical & Occupational Therapy, Montreal, Canada
- 5McGill University School of Social Work, Montreal, Canada
- 6University of Calgary Faculty of Social Work, Calgary, Canada
- 7University of Calgary Faculty of Kinesiology, Calgary, Canada
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Introduction: Youth with neurodevelopmental disabilities (NDD) were disproportionately impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic due to health and socioeconomic factors and system level disruption of essential supports. To date, few studies have engaged directly with youth with NDD to understand how they were been impacted by pandemic. The aim of this study was to uncover experiences of youth with NDD during the COVID-19 pandemic. Methods: Purposive sampling was used to recruit Canadian youth (age 18-30, inclusive) with NDD. Participants were provided with the option of participating in a written (online) or verbal (Zoom) interview. Deductive coding and inductive analysis were used to develop themes. Results: Forty youth participated in an interview. We discuss the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on participants in five key areas: education and academic performance, access to disability and healthcare services, social connectedness, participation in society, and mental health. Within these areas, both positive and negative experiences were reported. A secondary finding emerged related to the impact of gender identity on access to services. Discussion: Our study highlights the need for policy approaches that are flexible and responsive to the variability of needs among Canadian youth with NDD moving forward.
Keywords: Youth, Neurodevelopmental disability, COVID-19, Mental Health, Services, disability-inclusive policy, co-design
Received: 28 May 2025; Accepted: 09 Sep 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Finlay, Seth, Currie, Roth, Hudon, Hunt, Lach, Nicholas, Shikako and Zwicker. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Brittany Finlay, brittany.finlay1@ucalgary.ca
Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.