Title: Application Development Award – Mental health and wellbeing among young women aged 12-24: Personalised public mental health
Funder: Department of Health and Social Care

Abstract: Who are we?_x000D_ _x000D_ We are a diverse team of experts by professional and lived experience._x000D_ _x000D_ What do we aim to do and why?_x000D_ _x000D_ Young women are more likely to experience mental health difficulties than young men because of how society treats them._x000D_ _x000D_ We spoke to two groups of young experts by experience: one with eight young women and men and one with seven young women. We discussed how a lack of understanding of a young woman’s story hampers positive mental health and wellbeing. It prevents building trusting relationships, talking about mental health and seeking support, and being able to have a say in support._x000D_ _x000D_ We aim to produce an intervention for all young women that promotes understanding about their mental health stories. We will focus on the mental health challenges experienced by marginalised groups: black and minoritised ethnic groups; lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans, queer/questioning, and other (LGBTQ+) groups; and neurodiverse groups. _x000D_ _x000D_ In the future, we will test the intervention in a larger study to see whether or not it helps young women’s mental health and wellbeing._x000D_ _x000D_ The intervention is ‘My Story and Me’, which has two parts:_x000D_ 1) Watching a video of a young woman’s story, created by young women from different ethnic, LGBTQ+, and neurodiverse groups. We will represent intersecting identities by including those from multiply marginalised groups (e.g., neurodiverse trans women)._x000D_ 2) Creating your own story. Young women then record (by speech, video, text, or picture) their own story: ‘Who am I? What is My Mental Health Story? How Would I Like to be Supported?’. Only the young woman creating their story will have access to it. There will be guidance on how to talk about your story with others and where to find support._x000D_ _x000D_ These videos will challenge stigma and give voice to overlooked experiences. ‘My Story and Me’ is tailored to be inclusive of young women from marginalised groups. It will help young women to understand and talk about their own mental health stories by hearing the stories of other similar young women, empowering them to seek support at an early stage._x000D_ _x000D_ How will we do it?_x000D_ _x000D_ We will analyse data we already have on large groups of young women to examine different patterns in mental health difficulties and wellbeing for different groups of young women. This will help us to identify the multiply marginalised groups with whom we should be speaking. _x000D_ _x000D_ We will speak in-depth to 27-30 young women from different ethnic, LGBTQ+, and neurodiverse groups to hear their mental health stories and to create the pre-recorded videos, including the multiply marginalised groups identified from the data analysis._x000D_ _x000D_ We will hear from larger groups of young women and education, mental health, and community organisations through surveys and discussions. We will understand their views of ‘My Story and Me’ and of the larger study. This will help us to plan the optimal approach for the larger study._x000D_ _x000D_ What do we hope to achieve?_x000D_ _x000D_ If ‘My Story and Me’ seems to help, it will be freely available to anyone who wants it. We hope it will be a low cost, sustainable, and inclusive intervention with the potential to help young women at an early stage before developing mental health difficulties. We will amplify the voices of young women from marginalised groups, less often heard in mental health research. With diverse groups of young women, we hope to build a better way to help all young women have positive mental health and wellbeing.

Lay abstract: Aim: To address the Public Health Research call for research to develop a larger programme that examines: What interventions are effective to promote good mental health and wellbeing among young women aged 12-24?_x000D_ _x000D_ Objective: Based on consultations with young women, theory, and gaps in the evidence, our objective is to co-adapt a widely used evidence-based intervention to personalised health care. We will produce a near-final version (for the larger programme) of a universal personalised public mental health intervention for young women, tailored to be inclusive of young women from marginalised groups: black and minoritised ethnic groups; lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans, queer/questioning, and other (LGBTQ+) groups; and neuro-diverse groups. _x000D_ _x000D_ The co-adapted intervention, ‘My Story and Me’, involves:_x000D_ 1) Watching a video of a young woman’s story, created by young women from different ethnic, LGBTQ+, and neurodiverse groups, including those from multiply marginalised groups to represent the multiple intersectional influences through which identity and marginalisations are constructed._x000D_ _x000D_ 2) Creating your own story. Participants then record (speech, video, text, image) answers to three questions, mirroring those in the pre-recorded videos: ‘Who am I? What is My Mental Health Story? How would I Like to be Supported?’. Only the young woman creating their story will have access to it. There will be guidance on how to talk about your story with others and where to find support._x000D_ _x000D_ It will help young women to understand and talk about their own mental health stories by hearing the stories of other similar young women, empowering them to seek support at an early stage. Videos will challenge stigmatised attitudes, give voice to overlooked experiences, and shift power towards first-person narratives. Complementing these narratives, videos will discuss mental health and wellbeing patterns for different groups in general, based on analysis of population-level data._x000D_ _x000D_ Research Questions (RQs) and Methods_x000D_ • RQ1a) What demographic characteristics are associated with higher levels of mental health difficulties and lower levels of wellbeing in young women?_x000D_ • RQ1b) What are the mental health and wellbeing trajectories over 4 years for different groups of young women?_x000D_ • Secondary analysis of 2 recent population-level datasets (HeadStart, held by applicants): N = 35,800 young women (cross-sectional), N = 11,743 young women (separate longitudinal)._x000D_ _x000D_ • RQ2 What are the narrative experiences of young women aged 12-24 years in the community from diverse ethnic, LGBTQ+, and neuro-diverse groups about their mental health?_x000D_ • Narrative interviews with 27-30 young women to create the pre-recorded videos._x000D_ _x000D_ • RQ3: What is the optimum approach to conduct the full trial of ‘My Story and Me’ according to young women and education, mental health, and community organisation?_x000D_ • Consultation survey and discussion._x000D_ _x000D_ Team: Young Person Advisory Panel and Trial Steering Committee with expertise in psychology, psychiatry, quantitative/qualitative research, inequity, statistician, health economist, peer researcher, and implementation specialist. The Principal Investigators are Prof. Jessica Deighton and Prof. Julian Edbrooke-Childs._x000D_ _x000D_ Outputs: 1) low cost, sustainable, scalable, and inclusive intervention; 2) potential to reduce societal cost of mental illness; 3) redress mental health equity gap; 4) enable young women from marginalised groups to receive support earlier; 5) amplify seldom heard voices; 6) seek full trial funding from upcoming NIHR PHR call.

Research activity codes: 6.6 PSYCHOLOGICAL AND BEHAVIOURAL
Health categories: MENTAL HEALTH