NIHRDataInsights/HRCSData huggingface dataset:
Title: Under influence? An investigation of social media influencers’ impact on followers’ affective consequences and wellbeing
Funder: The British Academy

Abstract: Social media influencers are gaining prominence in the fast-changing digital environment. Businesses are vying to engage influencers for competitive advantage, while policy makers outline regulations on this continuously evolving phenomenon. Extant studies suggest beneficial effects of influencers’ engagement on businesses. Yet, as our prior research shows (1, 2), influencers can have counterintuitive effects under certain circumstances. Advancing research in the domain, we postulate that influencers elicit social comparisons by portraying idealised lifestyles and physical qualities. Social comparisons can create cognitive dissonance, with negative consequences on followers’ emotions and wellbeing. Findings will derive implications for organisations and policy. 1)Crisafulli, B. et al. (2022). Competence is power: How digital influencers impact buying decisions in B2B markets. Industrial Marketing Management (In Press). (2)Singh, J. et al. (2020). “To trust or not to trust”: The impact of social media influencers on the reputation of corporate brands in crisis. Journal of Business Research, 119,464-480.


Research activity codes: 1.2 PSYCHOLOGICAL AND SOCIOECONOMIC PROCESSES;2.3 PSYCHOLOGICAL, SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC FACTORS
Health categories: MENTAL HEALTH
Title: How do we take others' visual perspectives?
Funder: The British Academy

Abstract: The ability to understand what other people see, their visual perspective, is critical to smooth human social interaction. This project will examine what taking others' visual perspectives actually means. Participants will perform an experiment in which they need to reconstruct what someone with a different viewpoint sees, in the same way they see it. This will include aspects such as the colour, shape, and orientation of objects. Results will tell us what aspects of others' perspectives are harder or easier to represent in our own minds, providing an important insight into the nature of cognitive representations of other people's experience.


Research activity codes: 1.2 PSYCHOLOGICAL AND SOCIOECONOMIC PROCESSES
Health categories: MENTAL HEALTH
Title: Technological Shift, Drug Market Change and Supply Actors
Funder: The British Academy

Abstract: Chemical innovation and digital technologies are transforming UK and international markets for psychoactive substances. Stage 1 of the research uses primary and secondary data (surveys, statistical analysis, interviews, questionnaires, scenario planning) to investigate drivers of change and how these influence current and future structures, access, and trends in illicit drug markets. The research is original in its focus on supply side activities and drug supply actors. Stage 2 investigates the appropriateness of current policy approaches (criminalisation) in fast-changing, often internet-facilitated drug markets. It uses comparative case work, interviews and surveys to assess evidence generation and uptake in drug policy processes. The research provides practitioners, academics and policy makers with knowledge of market trends and policy options informed by the ‘lived experience’ of individuals interacting in drug markets. This is supported by a suite of online interdisciplinary CPD courses that bring professionals, practitioners and academics key insights into new developments.


Research activity codes: 2.3 PSYCHOLOGICAL, SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC FACTORS;7.1 INDIVIDUAL CARE NEEDS
Health categories: MENTAL HEALTH
Title: Positive adaptation to compound risk: Learning about mental health resilience from African emerging adults
Funder: The British Academy

Abstract: Multiple risks jeopardize the mental health of emerging adults living in African townships. To date, resilience studies have provided incomplete explanations of what enables this population’s resilience. It is particularly unclear which resilience-enabling factors impact mental health outcomes differentially (i.e., have greater or lesser protective value) for young African men and women at lower and higher levels of risk exposure, or how consistent these factors are over time. In response, we will engage 60 African 18-29-year-olds from a structurally disadvantaged South African township to co-produce diary and interview data over a 6-month period. This community, which is prototypical of stressed African environments, has a long-standing research relationship with the applicants. To advance the mental health of young people in stressed African communities, the applicants will share the resulting insights with grassroots mental health and advocacy organisations in ways that they deem useful and that facilitate resilience-enabling changes in practice.


Research activity codes: 7.1 INDIVIDUAL CARE NEEDS
Health categories: MENTAL HEALTH
Title: Coping to learn: The effects of psychosocial support to students in South Sudan
Funder: The British Academy

Abstract: WHO estimates of prevalence of mental health disorders in conflict-afflicted populations have led to urgent calls for intervention. Evidence of what works for education and metal health in conflict affected areas is weak, particularly how to combine the two. We seek to address this gap by estimating the effects of providing context dependent psychosocial support to young people affected by conflict in South Sudan, as they re-enter education. To do this we will partner with BRAC International NGO that is currently establishing nonformal schools in South Sudan for out-of-school children aged 8-12. Under this proposal, we will integrate additional psychosocial support to their (already funded) nonformal education program and assess whether this improves students’ mental health and learning outcomes using a randomized control trial. This project will also produce first estimates of the prevalence of depressive symptoms among children in South Sudan.


Research activity codes: 3.1 PRIMARY PREVENTION INTERVENTIONS TO MODIFY BEHAVIOURS OR PROMOTE WELL-BEING
Health categories: MENTAL HEALTH
Title: Psychological adaptation to climate change risks among adolescents and young adults in the Pacific Small Island Developing States
Funder: The British Academy

Abstract: This project addresses climate change risk experiences and psychological adaptation among young people in two Pacific Small Island Developing States, Fiji and Solomon Islands. The Pacific Islands are highly vulnerable to adverse climate change impacts. A large proportion of the global burden of disease attributable to climate change is borne by adolescents and children. Adolescents face risks from concrete climate-related stressors, such as extreme weather events, as well as abstract stressors, such as anxiety about ongoing and projected climate change impacts. Our project aims to investigate how climate risk exposure affects developmental and wellbeing outcomes among young people in the Pacific Islands. Using a combination of qualitative and quantitative methods, this project will be the first-of-its-kind to identify resilient and vulnerable groups of young people in the region to understand how they are experiencing climate change impacts and explore avenues for policy interventions to enhance their capacity for adaptation.


Research activity codes: 2.3 PSYCHOLOGICAL, SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC FACTORS
Health categories: MENTAL HEALTH
Title: Embedding Arts in Healthcare: Tackling the staff mental health crisis in the NHS through creative arts workshops
Funder: The British Academy

Abstract: Embedding Arts in Healthcare aims to shift the purpose of arts as an ‘add-on’ to healthcare, and instead centralise arts within wellbeing and good mental health practice for NHS staff to access during work time. In partnership with Lime, the arts department of Manchester NHS Foundation Trust, the project will shift focus from patient-centred participatory arts, about which there is much academic research across a range of areas, to NHS staff participation, around which there is very little discussion. Building on a previous successful arts-based pilot project with Lime, this project aims to go further by running arts workshops during the working day within healthcare settings, rather than staff having engage with workshops in their own time. The project aims to change ideas and policy around how creativity can be used within healthcare, to improve wellbeing and mental wellness for NHS staff.


Research activity codes: 3.1 PRIMARY PREVENTION INTERVENTIONS TO MODIFY BEHAVIOURS OR PROMOTE WELL-BEING
Health categories: MENTAL HEALTH
Title: Good water, sanitation and hygiene service delivery for and with adolescents and young people in sub-Saharan African cities to build better futures and nurture hope.
Funder: The British Academy

Abstract: In sub-Saharan Africa, adolescents and young people (AYP, aged 10 to 24 years), who form most of the population in cities, grow up managing their well-being by navigating the interface of formal and informal systems that provide water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) services. The COVID-19 pandemic has further exposed WASH service delivery needs with emerging socio-political action, often led by AYP, expressing and protecting service delivery needs. Working with AYP and local WASH stakeholders, this interdisciplinary study will build on pre-existing research conducted in the contrasting cities of Lusaka and Cape Town, and apply the theoretical concepts of stability, open/closed urban systems, and hope, to address WASH governance for AYP. Participatory analysis and fieldwork will carve out a co-created development space with and for AYP, identifying strategies for engaging AYP in WASH governance issues and promoting this involvement as core to ‘good cities’ that offer young people hope.


Research activity codes: 3.2 INTERVENTIONS TO ALTER PHYSICAL AND BIOLOGICAL ENVIRONMENTAL RISKS
Health categories: MENTAL HEALTH
Title: A study of the effects of prisoner re-entry on children and their caregivers in England and Wales
Funder: The British Academy

Abstract: Research has found that family support enables released prisoners to re-establish themselves within society, however the cost of this to family members is unknown. Children suffer when their parents are imprisoned, particularly if the parent is the primary carer, enduring significant upheaval and distress as a consequence of dealing with emotional and physical changes to their lives. It is likely that they are affected by a parent’s re-negotiation of the parental role post-release but children’s experiences of parental re-entry have not been considered within criminological literature. Using family process and social networks theories the impact of parental re-entry on children and their caregivers will be investigated within the context of children’s rights and the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child 1989. The cost of family involvement in desistance will be considered from the perspective of children and those with whom they lived during their parent’s imprisonment.


Research activity codes: 1.2 PSYCHOLOGICAL AND SOCIOECONOMIC PROCESSES
Health categories: MENTAL HEALTH
Title: Loneliness from childhood to young adulthood: a longitudinal, epidemiological and genetically-sensitive cohort study
Funder: The British Academy

Abstract: Loneliness is a growing concern in public discussion today, to the extent that the UK government now has a minister in post to tackle the issue at the policy level. Although often assumed to be a problem that mainly affects the elderly, as many as one-third of young people report that they too feel lonely at least some of the time. However, there is relatively little research to indicate why this may be the case, and what the implications are for young people's health and development. The aim of this project is to answer these gaps in the evidence: What sort of experiences and circumstances could make young people vulnerable to loneliness? Does loneliness experienced in childhood continue to haunt people into their adult years? And is social media bringing people closer together, or does it instead put up barriers?


Research activity codes: 2.1 BIOLOGICAL AND ENDOGENOUS FACTORS;2.3 PSYCHOLOGICAL, SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC FACTORS
Health categories: MENTAL HEALTH
Title: Developing and testing an eco-epidemiological model of the maintenance of psychotic disorders: An interdisciplinary, mixed methods study
Funder: The British Academy

Abstract: The course of psychotic disorders is highly variable. There is some evidence of better course in the global south, which has been speculatively attributed to greater social cohesion. However, most studies have been limited to the role of individual-level factors in explaining variance in course, neglecting the role of social context. I will use a mixed-methods eco-epidemiological approach to investigate how the communities and neighbourhoods in which people live affect the course of psychosis in Trinidad (a diverse society in the global south, since most previous research focuses on Western Europe/North America). I will use geospatial qualitative methods to investigate how embodied experiences of neighbourhoods affect people with psychosis. I will then work with communities in Trinidad to co-create improved measures of neighbourhood environments. Finally, I will test whether the neighbourhood characteristics they identify as important are associated with improved social and clinical outcomes for people living with psychosis.


Research activity codes: 2.3 PSYCHOLOGICAL, SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC FACTORS
Health categories: MENTAL HEALTH
Title: Expressivism and the Normativity of Well-Being
Funder: The British Academy

Abstract: Prudential discourse, or thought and talk about well-being or what is good for a person, forms a central component of thinking about how we should live. As well as asking what we should do morally, for example, we also ask what we should do for our own good. However, despite its centrality in thinking how to live, very little attention has been given to questions about the nature of prudential discourse. My research aims to fill this lacuna. Drawing on contemporary research in meta-ethics, I propose to motivate, develop, and explore the implications of an expressivist theory of prudential discourse. According to expressivism, claims about how we should live express evaluative attitudes and practical commitments, rather than factual beliefs. Understanding prudential discourse in this way, I will argue, provides a novel and attractive account of prudential discourse that furthers our understanding of a centrally important part of our lives.


Research activity codes: 1.2 PSYCHOLOGICAL AND SOCIOECONOMIC PROCESSES
Health categories: MENTAL HEALTH
Title: Complementarities in Children’s Skill Development and Mental Health: The Role of Parental Investments, Health and Relationship Quality
Funder: The British Academy

Abstract: The development of a child’s skills is crucial for their long-term health, economic prosperity, and wider family outcomes. Heterogeneity in investments, experiences, and opportunities puts children on different paths from birth. This means that children growing up in households characterized by low child investments, poor parental health and partner abuse will fall behind in multiple aspects, including cognitive and non-cognitive skills, and physical and mental health, limiting their future opportunities. My research will estimate how skills and health develop in unison and how they interact in order to evaluate policy interventions that can be effective at improving outcomes for disadvantaged children. It is likely that interventions are more productive at certain ages, but it remains unclear whether targeting one dimension can compensate for, or help overcome, deficits in another dimension. For example, can interventions focused on supporting mental health indirectly foster the development of cognitive skills?


Research activity codes: 2.3 PSYCHOLOGICAL, SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC FACTORS
Health categories: MENTAL HEALTH
Title: Leisure or Livelihoods? A Participatory Study of Youth Perspectives on Gambling and its Social, Economic and Health Impacts in Ghana and Malawi
Funder: The British Academy

Abstract: This project adopts a participatory action research (PAR) approach to give voice to youth perspectives on the growth of commercial gambling across Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA), including its differentiated impacts on individual and community well-being. Drawing on a comparative case study of Ghana and Malawi, as exemplars of, respectively, a mature and an emerging gambling market, the research aims to empower young people to convey the changing social and economic significance of gambling in their communities, including the extent to which technological advances have reshaped attitudes towards gambling practices, and how this may have wider implications for traditional conceptualisations of work, livelihood and social mobility. Youth participants will play an active role in the design, collection and dissemination of research data, including the sharing of co-creative outputs with policy-makers, academics and non-governmental organisations in order to foster critical awareness of the public health risks posed by gambling across the Global South.


Research activity codes: 2.3 PSYCHOLOGICAL, SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC FACTORS;7.1 INDIVIDUAL CARE NEEDS
Health categories: MENTAL HEALTH
Title: Amplifying the voices of young people for sustainable development in mental health
Funder: The British Academy

Abstract: To achieve the social development goal (SDG) of ‘promoting wellbeing for all’ we must engage young people in the design of innovative health promotion strategies and in health policy. Yet it is unclear whether young people feel a sense of agency and responsibility towards mental health improvement in their immediate community and in wider society. Working in close collaboration with an advisory group of adolescents in Brazil, this project’s aims are twofold: (1) to conduct a preliminary mapping of young people’s understandings and aspirations of agency in the context of mental health promotion, and (2) to develop and test a digital tool (i.e., a “storytelling chatbot”) aimed at assessing and strengthening young people’s sense of agency towards wellbeing promotion. We hope this project advances our understanding of youth agency in mental health and ultimately contributes to the achievement of a sustainable and healthy future for Brazilian youth.


Research activity codes: 2.3 PSYCHOLOGICAL, SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC FACTORS;3.1 PRIMARY PREVENTION INTERVENTIONS TO MODIFY BEHAVIOURS OR PROMOTE WELL-BEING
Health categories: MENTAL HEALTH
Title: Predicting Length of Stay on NHS Mental Health Adult Inpatient Wards Using Machi
Funder: The Health Foundation

Abstract: Bed occupancy in acute mental health NHS facilities is often close to or above 100%. This results in patients being admitted far from their homes and being separated from family and carers. It impacts patient experience, quality and safety, and it is challenging to admit patients who are in a crisis. Length of stay (LoS) is an important driver of these occupancy levels, with patient stays over two months contributing disproportionately. However, most trusts do not routinely or accurately predict LoS. Predicting LoS is challenging, as multiple factors need to be taken into account, including primary diagnosis; physical health and/or substance misuse co-morbidity; housing, relationship and employment status; functional and social impairment; multiple ward changes; and the cultural milieu of a ward. In partnership with the University of Sussex, this Advancing Applied Analytics project team will develop an algorithm using machine learning to predict LoS within three days of admission to an adult ward. The model will be piloted in Sussex and then tested at Oxford Health NHS Foundation Trust. Routinely and accurately predicting LoS will provide patients with better quality of care, shaping their journey to make every day count and giving tangible hope at a time when they are acutely unwell. It will also free up clinicians to focus on shared decision making with the patient and carer, and support operational staff in bed management. The algorithm will use data collected as part of the Mental Health Service Data Set, meaning it could be used by other NHS mental health trusts.


Research activity codes: 8.1 ORGANISATION AND DELIVERY OF SERVICES;8.4 RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODOLOGIES (HEALTH SERVICES)
Health categories: MENTAL HEALTH
Title: Novel methods to explore the value of cognitive health in a place
Funder: The Health Foundation

Abstract: Cognition is central to human function and is an important driver of health and social outcomes. However, unlike physical health, disability, economic growth or happiness, it is rarely a focal point of public policy. Cognitive functioning is dynamic and can be affected by numerous factors, both positively and negatively. This project was run by a team at the Department of Neurodegenerative Disease at University College London, and involved the development of a metric, a ‘cognitive footprint’, which expresses the cognitive impact of factors over time. The concept is similar to that of the carbon footprint. The project explored the relationships between cognitive function and ‘space’ using geostatistical mapping. This is an unbiased approach to quantifying the spatial distribution of a variable, in this instance cognition, based on postcodes. The development of a metric that can capture the size and duration of a change in cognition could enable the comparison of the effect of different policies to maximise cognition and to preserve the cognitive ‘capital’ of an individual, a group or a population. The concept of a ‘cognitive footprint’ has been proposed in previous work, and preliminary work has assessed the effect of medications and pollution on cognition. This project aimed to develop the cognitive footprint as a metric that can be used to explore the relationship between space and cognition, and subsequently to broader measures of health and wealth. The methodology developed through this project will be able to be used by the research community and decision makers, enabling aggregated measures of the association between place and cognitive capital.


Research activity codes: 8.5 RESOURCES AND INFRASTRUCTURE (HEALTH SERVICES)
Health categories: MENTAL HEALTH