Title: Application Development Award – Mental health and wellbeing among young women: Mapping current green social support, network building, and developing PPI structures to underpin an evaluative study among pregnant young women.
Funder: Department of Health and Social Care

Abstract: What is the project about and why is it important?_x000D_ _x000D_ The mental health and wellbeing of young women has been getting worse since the 1990s. In particular, young women are more likely to get depression or anxiety when pregnant or after giving birth. This can have long term effects for them and their children. It also costs a lot of money for the NHS and social services. We know that support from family, friends, and community groups can help to protect people against poor mental health and wellbeing. Research has also shown that access to nature may be linked to better mental health and wellbeing. However, we need more studies to check this._x000D_ _x000D_ We will find out more about community groups that offer wellbeing activities in nature. We will also link up with the right people to support this and future projects. This will help us to develop another application for funding about activities to promote mental health and wellbeing among young women. We will concentrate on pregnant young women aged 16-24. We will also focus on activities that have social and nature-based elements because these may have benefits to mental health and wellbeing and they appealed strongly to women we have talked to about this. _x000D_ _x000D_ _x000D_ What will we do?_x000D_ _x000D_ To develop our future application, we feel it is important to know what is already happening in community groups to support mental health and wellbeing. This is to find out if these methods could be used or adapted to support young women during pregnancy and the early months with their baby. Our first step will be to map the services and support that are available in the East Midlands region of the UK which include social and nature aspects. For example, these could include activities such as a group walk in a woodland, music or dance in a local park, or arts and crafts sessions held in community gardens. We will do this by contacting organisations that offer these activities and ask them to fill out a short survey about their service._x000D_ _x000D_ _x000D_ Who will be involved?_x000D_ _x000D_ This project is being led by researchers at the University of Nottingham. We will invite women who are or have been pregnant at a young age to work with us as part of our ‘Research Influencer Group’. We will invite these women through social media, the organisations we already know, and any new organisations that we have found out about. We will ask members of this group to look at the activities we have found during our work and decide which they feel would be most interesting to young pregnant women. We will then take forward one or more of the activities chosen to use in a future study. This will test whether these activities support the mental health and wellbeing of young pregnant women. _x000D_ _x000D_ To make sure we have all the skills needed for the future project we will talk to experts in particular subjects and invite some to join our team. This may include those who work with young people, in public health, voluntary organisations, and other researchers with different skills. We will also ask women from our Research Influencer Group to bring their experiences and invite them to join the future research team as co-investigators or to carry on as a part of the group.

Lay abstract: Background: _x000D_ A quarter of young women report symptoms of mental ill-health and rates are rising. Young pregnant women are particularly vulnerable with perinatal and postnatal mental disorders being common co-morbidities of pregnancy. This affects women’s wellbeing but also the health of their children. There is a substantial cost to NHS and social care associated with these impacts on maternal mental health and wellbeing._x000D_ _x000D_ Increasing social support is well established as a means to promote mental health and wellbeing in the general population and in pregnancy. Access to nature has also been found to be beneficial to mental health and wellbeing, including for women and pregnant women. However more robust evaluative studies are needed. _x000D_ _x000D_ This project aims to investigate current services and create new networks (including PPI) to support application development for a future study evaluating social, nature based activities to promote mental health and wellbeing in young pregnant women. _x000D_ _x000D_ Aim: _x000D_ To perform underpinning development work to support an application to a future commissioned funding call._x000D_ _x000D_ Objectives: _x000D_ 1) To conduct a mapping exercise of the social, nature based, support and services available in the East Midlands to promote mental health and wellbeing, 2) To develop a young women’s maternity research involvement group, to explore their views on acceptability of interventions and barriers and facilitators to participation, 3) To develop a comprehensive network of partners to support and/or deliver a future pilot study, including NGOs, policy makers, and any additional academic expertise required._x000D_ _x000D_ Methods:_x000D_ The study will map the current provision of community social, nature based activities in the East Midlands. A search for relevant services will be completed and a brief survey sent for more details. We will also conduct some focus groups with providers. Employing a snowball sampling strategy will help to reach other relevant organisations. Through this, our networks, and social media we will contact women with lived experience of pregnancy at a young age (16-24 years) to form a ‘Research Influencers Group’ (RIG). The RIG will review the findings of the mapping exercise to reach consensus about which services/support would be most acceptable to young pregnant women. One or more of those chosen by women will form the intervention to be evaluated in the future commissioned call. We will prioritise organisations working with ethnically and socio-economically diverse groups to help address health inequalities. Alongside this we will strengthen networks with relevant experts and organisations to support a robust design and implementation of a future evaluative study._x000D_ _x000D_ Timelines: _x000D_ The study will run for 6 months with a final report delivered by the end of the project. Pre-study to month 1, study set up; the mapping exercise will be completed in months 1-4; months 2-6 will include exploring women’s views and developing networks. _x000D_ _x000D_ Impact and dissemination: _x000D_ The main impact of this study will be to develop a future application to the commissioned call; forming a young women’s PPI group and strengthening our networks. The findings of the mapping exercise will be published in an academic journal and made available in an accessible format.

Research activity codes: 3.1 PRIMARY PREVENTION INTERVENTIONS TO MODIFY BEHAVIOURS OR PROMOTE WELL-BEING
Health categories: MENTAL HEALTH;REPRODUCTIVE HEALTH AND CHILDBIRTH