Sahana Ramamoorthy is a graduate in the Department of Community Health and Epidemiology, College of Medicine, University of Saskatchewan. She is part of the “See Us, Hear US” project team led by Principal Investigators Dr. Nazeem Muhajarine (SPHERU Director and Professor, Community Health and Epidemiology) and Dr. Tamara Hinz (child and adolescent psychiatrist with Saskatchewan Health Authority and Assistant Professor, Psychiatry). She has experience in project management, research assistantships, and health promotion and knowledge translation activities.
Before arriving in Canada, Sahana worked as a project officer for a 3-year national level project under the Ministry of Health, Sri Lanka, which aimed at capacity building in primary health care setting and involved several other health promotion activities.
Covid-19 and mental health impact in Saskatchewan: caregiver and child perspectives
Funded in collaboration with the Saskatchewan Health Research Foundation, University of Saskatchewan student Sahana Ramamoorthy works with a multidisciplinary team in the Saskatchewan Population Health Evaluation and Research Unit (SPHERU) to study and understand how caregivers perceive their children’s mental health status and their need for help during the COVID-19 pandemic and explore the children’s help-seeking behaviour.
This project utilizes data collected through the See Us, Hear Us 1.0 research project, developed in partnership with EGADZ Saskatoon Downtown Youth Centre and funded by Mental Health Research Canada (MHRC) and Saskatchewan Health Research Foundation (SHRF).
A deeper understanding of the outcome of this study will prove valuable for the children and caregivers themselves, as it addresses a critical gap, corresponding perspectives of children and caregivers concerning children’s changes in behaviours and mental health needs. The results of the study will be submitted to peer-reviewed journals, and for several conference presentations in the academic domain. Further, a series of dissemination products will be developed aimed at educators, mental health service providers, decision-makers and lay audiences. The project will partner with MHRC and SHRF to identify opportunities to disseminate the information to larger audiences.