Title: Improving the mental health of children and young people in Northern Ireland - making research count
Funder: Economic and Social Research Council

Abstract: This fellowship seeks to address two primary objectives for the early career researcher: (1) How to make research relevant, accessible & usable to those being researched; & (2) Understanding how to implement & influence change - mobilising grassroots action, informing & empowering the disempowered, & challenging & improving policy and services. Both of these objectives will build on PhD learning & involve exploratory work based on new research, specific training, developing insider knowledge & draw on the expertise & experience of people & organisations that have a track record in making research relevant for stakeholders, engaging experts by experience, & developing evidence-based policy. The proposed programme for the 12-month fellowship has a number of primary aims structured around data from a new study, a mental health prevalence survey of children, young people & parents in Northern Ireland (NI). This data creates enormous potential to transform policy, service delivery & practice in mental health services in NI. It also has wider national & international significance. However, understanding how best to communicate, influence & create impact with research will be key in realising the data's potential. The proposed programme will rely on knowledge & skills developed during my PhD, but will seek additional training to develop my knowledge further. It will look to build the developing networks & connections I have begun to establish as a postdoctoral researcher with the aim of making research relevant, usable, accessible in order to maximise research impact & influence change. The key objectives are: (1) Training & application of new quantitative analysis skills. The fellowship will help consolidate & develop quantitative analysis skills. This is a complex data set & additional statistical training will be extremely beneficial in gaining the skills & experience to analyse the data. Close statistical supervision is available from the team & the planned analysis will focus on the risk & protective factors of anxiety & depression in young people. Developing these skills will allow the replication of similar analyses across the data. (2) Relationship building/network development. A targeted information gathering research visit & two internships will build on newly formed networks & seek to establish new connections. These placements will be staged to maximise the learning & application of knowledge. An initial one-week placement with the Mental Health Foundation (MHF) in Glasgow will focus on co-production & influencing policy; followed by a visit to Chapin Hall in Chicago to learn about increasing the accessibility & impact of data sets, & co-production with young people. It will conclude with a 6-week internship with the Department of Health NI (DOH) to understand how policy is informed & developed, & explore how they can apply co-production to their work. (3) Stakeholder engagement & application of knowledge. This will involve engaging effectively with the research commissioners & what the data means for policy, service delivery/workforce planning & professional practice. Importantly, it will have a particular focus on co-production work with young people. This programme of work will establish a template to engage & disseminate relevant research findings to a range of stakeholders. (4) Publication strategy. This will be an important aspect of the project. It will include a peer-reviewed journal article but also the co-production of dissemination materials or resources (that could include data access tools such as Chapin Hall's data resources designed for community groups or an online resource dedicated to young people). As part of the internship with the DOH, I will prepare a briefing paper for their policy team about maximising user engagement in policy development. (5) Funding applications. A final planned output will include a funding application as named PI to promote co-produced knowledge-transfer of data.

Lay abstract: This fellowship creates the opportunity to apply knowledge & learning from PhD study to identify & disseminate key findings from a new data source, the Youth Wellbeing Study NI. The is the first survey in NI to reliably estimate the rate, or prevalence, of mental health disorders in the general population of children, young people & their parents. It will give government, health & social care services, schools & the voluntary sector important information to help plan & deliver services to prevent & treat mental health problems. It will help us to understand the relationship between parent & child mental health & the impact of other socio-economic & environmental factors. The survey includes a range of measures of emotional & behavioural problems such as anxiety & depression, eating disorders, autism spectrum disorders & self-harm and suicide, physical health, education, environment & exposure to trauma (in childhood or relating to 'The Troubles' in NI). These data have the potential to transform the understanding of mental health in the youth population in NI & inform international knowledge about the onset of mental health disorders in children & young people & the impact of intergenerational trauma in a post-conflict society. Mental health & wellbeing is a significant public health concern & many services are stretched to breaking point. Having a better understanding of the issues facing children & young people is crucial to plan a strategic response based on need & one that targets support & encourages early help & treatment for children & families. While a valuable data set has been generated, it is important that this information is analysed, understood & communicated in a responsible and effective way that maximises its potential to inform policy, practice and ultimately improve service delivery. The fellowship plan will involve training to conduct analysis to examine the relationship between anxiety & depression rates in young people & other factors such as poverty & deprivation, parental mental health & environmental factors such as social media use/bullying/cyberbullying. Survey data has been collected on household level income, benefits, area level deprivation & home ownership, parental mental health (using the GHQ-12 questionnaire) & young people's use & experiences of social media & negative experiences online & at school. Planned analysis will examine how these complex factors interact with each other & affect child & parental mental health. Once this analysis has been completed, the work plan will include a series of short internships/research visits to organisations that have well established systems of making research data widely accessible, communicating research findings effectively, & influencing & shaping policy to promote change. This will include examining co-production methods that involve people who are 'experts by experience' e.g. people with mental health problems, or care experienced young people. The programme will also include a 6-week placement with the DOH to explore the application of this learning within a policy environment & consider how to increase & support co-production methods in this setting & increase the relevance & utility of research to improve services. Following the internships, relevant outputs based on the anxiety & depression data will be co-produced with a group of young people & disseminated. A paper will be prepared for the team at the DOH, building on the knowledge gained from the MHF and Chapin Hall visits, which will help explore how to engage stakeholders in their decision making & providing data access. The preparation of a peer-reviewed journal article will also be important. Finally, the learning & experience will place me in a strong position to identify & apply for funding as principal investigator & start to build a career as an independent researcher.

Research activity codes: 2.3 PSYCHOLOGICAL, SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC FACTORS;8.3 POLICY, ETHICS AND RESEARCH GOVERNANCE
Health categories: MENTAL HEALTH