NIHRDataInsights/HRCSData huggingface dataset:
Title: Development and validation of the Social Media Experience measure: Using objective assessment and adolescents' experience to inform its development
Funder: Medical Research Council

Abstract: The proposed project aims to co-develop with young people a robust and comprehensive social media experience measure. It aims to address the methodological limitations of current social media measures, including small samples, absent focus groups with young people and experts, and inappropriate or limited theory and psychometric analyses. The proposed project will follow a comprehensive multiphase mixed method research consistent with scale development theory and practices. The item development will rely on existing evidence, focus groups/cognitive interviews with young people and a Delphi study with social media experts, clinicians, parents and teachers. Beyond that, we aim to apply a novel method that triangulates information from subjective (e.g. self-report data) and objective (e.g. online social media comments) social media experience to inform the development of the items. We will do so by developing a smartphone app that tracks the live time spent on social media and triggers an ecological momentary assessment study to assess how young people engage with social media, and how that relates to their mental health and related outcomes. This is a novel application within scale development practices and will help us develop valid items that are particularly useful for understanding mental health. The measure will be piloted and validated with two independent samples of young people aged 11-15. A range of psychometric analyses will be used, including item response theory, (network) factor analyses, measurement invariance, and reliability and validity analyses. The measure, but also the app, will be freely available to use by national and international researchers and will be useful for those interested in assessing, and therefore understanding, young people's social media experience, but also how that relates to mental health and related outcomes. The triangulation of objective and subjective data will also be useful for scale development researchers overall.


Research activity codes: 1.2 PSYCHOLOGICAL AND SOCIOECONOMIC PROCESSES;2.3 PSYCHOLOGICAL, SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC FACTORS;7.1 INDIVIDUAL CARE NEEDS
Health categories: GENERIC HEALTH RELEVANCE;MENTAL HEALTH
Title: A new methodology linking interactional and experiential approaches, and involving young people as co-analysts of mental health encounters.
Funder: Medical Research Council

Abstract: It is crucial to understand young people's subjective experiences of mental healthcare. Existing methods tend to oversimplify and decontextualise these experiences. Methodological innovation is needed to provide a more systemic view. The ethical and epistemic benefits of co-producing research with young people are now evident. Any new methodology thus must incorporate strategies for conceptualising and implementing the active involvement of young people in research. While significant progress has been made for many aspects of the research process, the field of youth mental health lacks a methodology for involving young people in data analysis and interpretation. Our proposal connects these two problems by suggesting that different forms of expertise can be understood in terms of the different perspectives they provide. Bringing more than one perspective supports more comprehensive analysis. We will work with young experts-by-experience, in the context of an interdisciplinary approach. An independent youth-led evaluation will examine the pilot work which we have completed so far, to identify barriers and facilitators to successful co-analysis. We will then follow a prototype-refinement process to carry out a full application of our proposed methodology. This will examine young people's encounters with professionals about their mental health. We will conduct co-analysis with young people (aged 15-24), examining two innovative data types (image-based interviews and video-recorded clinical interactions), and employing two established qualitative methods (Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis and Conversation Analysis) in a novel complementary design. We will document our process, strategies, and resources. We will work with young people and other stakeholders to develop materials to allow the wider research community to plan, fund, implement, conceptualise, evaluate and adapt our methodology for other crucial topics in the field of adolescent mental health.


Research activity codes: 7.1 INDIVIDUAL CARE NEEDS;8.4 RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODOLOGIES (HEALTH SERVICES)
Health categories: GENERIC HEALTH RELEVANCE;MENTAL HEALTH
Title: Advancing measurement of gender and sexual dimensions of adolescent mental health and wellbeing: Addressing a missing link
Funder: Medical Research Council

Abstract: Background: Mental health problems are increasing among adolescents. Research to understand causes and protective factors has largely overlooked issues related to gender identity and sexual development, despite their importance to young people. Sexuality development in adolescence is normal and healthy but can also involve difficulties including shame and stigma. Research has focused on the causal link between sexual risk behaviour and poor mental health. In contrast, little is known about how poor mental health affects sexual behaviour, and how healthy adolescent sexuality development links to wellbeing. These gaps reflect lack of valid and reliable measures, lack of cross-speciality collaboration, and discomfort with sexual expression in youth. Gaps in research limit the evidence-base and can mean that interventions fail to address issues of concern to young people. Aim: To advance understanding of links between adolescent gender identities, sexuality, sexual wellbeing and mental health/wellbeing to support mechanistically informed research. Methods: (1) 6 engagement workshops with stakeholders (including young people) to set research agenda; (2) Systematic review of validated measures of gender identity and sexual development constructs important to mental health/wellbeing; (3) Qualitative fieldwork and web-based survey (n=1,500) to design and validate a new measure of sexual wellbeing in mid/late adolescence and test associations with mental health/wellbeing (4) Capacity building via: agenda-setting paper to facilitate cross-speciality dialogue; development of web-based methods resource, combining outputs from (2/3); pilot training for end-users of measures; translation and dissemination of findings to policy/practice audiences and young people. Outcomes: Stronger methodological foundations to support descriptive, theoretical and hypothesis testing research on mechanistic links between adolescent gender and sexual development and mental health/wellbeing.


Research activity codes: 2.3 PSYCHOLOGICAL, SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC FACTORS;7.1 INDIVIDUAL CARE NEEDS
Health categories: GENERIC HEALTH RELEVANCE;MENTAL HEALTH
Title: Establishing global ethical norms on Minimally Invasive Autopsy
Funder: Wellcome Trust

Abstract: Uncertainty about causes of death and unregistered mortality patterns in low-middle income countries (LMICs) are limitations to planning and evaluation of health programmes. Funding bodies such as the Gates Foundation have advocated Minimally Invasive Autopsy (MIA) to address these important kinds of uncertainty and to minimise sensitivities. MIA involves using hollow needles to sample a number of organs without actually having to open the deceased body - as a possibly more acceptable alternative and less invasive to full autopsy.The conduct of MIA in practice presents a number of ethical and social challenges. While the global development and introduction of MIA is growing, little attention has been paid to these problems or to the development of global ethical norms. The World Health Organisation (WHO) – a key international actor in the context of global health - is particularly well placed to form global ethical norms on MIA.The aim of my project is to provide an overview of key ethical issues associated with designing and deploying MIA globally. I intend to develop a preparatory document for a WHO consultation meeting on establishing global ethical norms, with the aim to inform the development of MIA guideline.minimally invasive autopsy, ethics, WHO

Lay abstract: BackgroundMinimally Invasive Autopsy (MIA) technology has been proposed as a way to address the cause of death uncertainty in low- and middle-income countries and to minimise sensitivities. The hope is that MIA may be more likely to be successful. This is because MIA involves using hollow needles to sample a number of organs without actually having to open the deceased body - as a possibly more acceptable alternative and less invasive to full autopsy.My approachVery little attention has been paid, so far, to the global ethical norms on MIA.Drawing on my PhD research, I will work with the World Health Organisation (WHO) to provide an overview of key ethical issues associated with designing and deploying MIA globally.Expected impactI intend to develop a preparatory document for a WHO consultation meeting on establishing global ethical norms. The document will inform development of MIA global ethical guideline.

Research activity codes: 8.3 POLICY, ETHICS AND RESEARCH GOVERNANCE
Health categories: GENERIC HEALTH RELEVANCE;MENTAL HEALTH
Title: The Progress Paradox: Exploring the nexus between development, social inequalities, and mental distress in northern Pakistan
Funder: Wellcome Trust

Abstract: Mental health activists and service-users have long argued for research and interventions to take into consideration structural determinants of mental distress such as violence and inequality. Yet, current scholarship on high rates of mental distress amongst women in Pakistan focus on proximal social determinants (factors pertaining to individuals and families). This project challenges public health investigations that places responsibility of poor mental health of women in the region on family conflict, thereby misplacing causal accountability and missing the opportunity for large-scale transformation and social change. Taking poor mental health amongst women in northern Pakistan as a case study, this project examines how structural determinants such as gender inequality, poverty, and impact of development interventions, shape women’s mental health in northern Pakistan. The proposed research will comprise of in-depth interviews, participant observation and archival research in Gilgit Baltistan, where high rates of suicides/attempted suicides have been recorded. The project draws on critical perspectives from the fields of global mental health, international development, and gender studies. It aims to provide evidence and insights to researchers, mental health service providers, advocates, and policymakers in delivering health and gender justice through informed interventions and policies in Pakistan, and more broadly, South Asia.

Lay abstract: Current research on mental distress and suicides/attempted suicides amongst women in northern Pakistan attribute these health crises to factors pertaining to individuals and families. This framing places responsibility of mental health on individuals and detracts from the structural factors that play a role in delivering health and gender (in)justice in the region. Critical perspectives in global mental health, international development, and gender studies argue for an analysis that take into account structural determinants of mental health. Drawing on these perspectives, I will examine how the mental health crisis in northern Pakistan has been shaped by structural inequalities across class and gender, as well as international development interventions in the region. I will rely on in-depth interviews, participant observation, and archival research to collect data in Gilgit Baltistan. I aim for the findings of this research to be useful as evidence for informed mental health interventions and policies in the region.

Research activity codes: 3.1 PRIMARY PREVENTION INTERVENTIONS TO MODIFY BEHAVIOURS OR PROMOTE WELL-BEING
Health categories: GENERIC HEALTH RELEVANCE;MENTAL HEALTH
Title: What are the determinants of vulnerability to County Lines exploitation? What are the health and economic costs of County Lines?
Funder: Wellcome Trust

Abstract: County lines (CL) trafficking is a model of illegal drug (heroin and crack cocaine) distribution that has emerged recently in the UK, whereby city-based dealing groups exploit the labour of children and adults, often in vulnerable circumstances in order to deal directly to smaller coastal and market towns. Involvement in CL is associated with experiencing a wide range of health harms including violence and sexual exploitation.CL is causally complex. The many individual-level risk factors currently thought to lead to vulnerability CL exploitation (mental health issues, prior histories of abuse and neglect, being excluded from mainstream education, being in care, prior offending, drug addition, disability) are themselves determined by complex, interacting upstream socio-economic factors. In order to capture this complexity, I aim to take a systems modelling approach to CL trafficking – viewing the CL phenomenon as an emergent property of a dynamic and open, adaptive system. This model could then be used for ‘what-if’ policy scenario testing, estimating the possibility for cooperation or conflict between the goals and activities of a wide range of statutory bodies, and could guide the design of coordinated cross-sectoral interventions.


Research activity codes: 2.3 PSYCHOLOGICAL, SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC FACTORS
Health categories: GENERIC HEALTH RELEVANCE;MENTAL HEALTH
Title: Predicting the impacts of universal basic income on mental health inequalities in the UK population: a microsimulation model
Funder: Wellcome Trust

Abstract: Policy interventions addressing the social determinants of health such as income are most likely to address health inequalities. Policy modelling studies based on real-world data facilitate exploration of complex interventions and are increasingly influential in public health policy-making; however, existing studies focus mainly on policies aimed at individual health behaviours. A model evaluating societal-level, ‘upstream’ interventions would have significant potential to influence policy and reduce inequalities. I will create a model which predicts the impacts of proposed income and welfare policies on population mental health and health inequalities in the UK population. I will use a microsimulation modelling approach, first building a simulated representative UK population and integrating into this causal effects of changes in income and employment status on individual mental health outcomes. The income-mental health model will then be integrated with the EUROMOD tax-benefit microsimulation model, which can calculate expected changes in income for UK households under proposed new income/welfare policies. To test the model, I will use it to predict the effects of introducing a Universal Basic Income (UBI) on mental health outcomes and inequalities in the UK. The advisory group will include key stakeholders, to actively engage policymakers considering UBI and similar policies in the research.

Lay abstract: Changes to welfare policies impact on mental health. Computer-based ‘policy models’ based on real-world data are increasingly being used to predict health outcomes before introducing policies in some fields. I will create a model like this which can predict how new welfare or tax policies are likely to affect mental health in the UK population. I will first create a virtual UK population which integrates how changes in income and employment can impact mental health, then combine this with an existing model (EUROMOD) that calculates how much new welfare policies will change incomes for UK individuals and households. Finally, I will use the combined model to test the likely outcome of introducing a novel policy ‘Universal Basic Income’ on the country’s overall mental health and for different groups of the population. Results will be fed back to policymakers, helping them choose policy options most likely to benefit mental health.

Research activity codes: 3.1 PRIMARY PREVENTION INTERVENTIONS TO MODIFY BEHAVIOURS OR PROMOTE WELL-BEING
Health categories: GENERIC HEALTH RELEVANCE;MENTAL HEALTH
Title: Using multiple data sources to stratify depression and identify more targeted drug treatments
Funder: Wellcome Trust

Abstract: Depression is a heritable disorder with a highly polygenic architecture. Progress in obtaining genome-wide significant findings has been slow, but over the last few years large cohorts have become available and have started to yield valuable insights. I will combine information from these cohorts to uncover the genetic underpinnings of the disorder and develop individual-level risk prediction of depression using polygenic risk scoring. The inclusion of non-genetic risk factors for depression is also likely to further increase accuracy of prediction using multifactorial risk scores. This will also allow me to investigate novel methods for identifying modifiable risk factors for depression. Depression is clinically heterogeneous and comorbid with a range of other health conditions. The derived multifactorial risk scores offer the opportunity to stratify depression into subtypes using machine learning methods. I will analyse the genetic and non-genetic risk factors involved in each depression subtype which will improve our understanding of the underlying biology of each subtype. Gene-set analysis will reveal potential drug repositioning opportunities offering more targeted treatments for patients in each subtype. The efficacy of anti-depressant treatment response for specific subtypes will be estimated using currently available electronic health record linked data.

Lay abstract: A person’s risk of developing depression is influenced by their experiences, environment and the genes that they inherit. Good progress has been made in understanding the genes involved in the disorder. The proposed research plans to use this genetic data along with additional information, including health factors and life events, to better understand an individual’s risk of depression. There are likely to be different types of depression. This research will examine if certain risk factors can be used to identify subtypes for the disorder. The biological causes of each subtype will then be examined which may allow more tailored treatments to be identified. The prescription data that is already available will then be used to assess the most appropriate treatments for each subtype. The overall aim of this research is to better understand who is at risk of depression and to identify more effective ways of treating them.

Research activity codes: 2.1 BIOLOGICAL AND ENDOGENOUS FACTORS
Health categories: GENERIC HEALTH RELEVANCE;MENTAL HEALTH
Title: COVID-Mind: Mental Health during Covid-19
Funder: Wellcome Trust

Abstract: This proposal is for the establishment of an international mental health research network for Covid-19 and the running of a UK mixed-methods mental health study. The proposed network will have three core aims: 1. i. a. 1. To support the establishment of high-quality longitudinal studies in countries internationally exploring the effects of Covid-19 on mental health 2. To enable international collaboration in longitudinal data analysis to understand cross-cultural differences in the mental health effects of Covid-19 3. To catalogue and disseminate other quantitative and qualitative mental health research on Covid-19 We will also lead a large-scale UK concurrent mixed methods study comprising a longitudinal study and a qualitative interview study to provide high quality, rigorous scientific data on the mental health impact of Covid-19 in the UK. This study is already underway and has 5 core aims: 2. To understand the psychological and social impact of Covid-19 3. To map how the psychosocial impact evolves over time as social isolation measures get stricter and once measures are relaxed 4. To ascertain which groups are at greatest risk of adverse effects on their mental health 5. To explore the interaction between psychosocial impact and adherence to healthy and protective behaviours 6. To identify activities during isolation that could buffer against adverse effects


Research activity codes: 8.3 POLICY, ETHICS AND RESEARCH GOVERNANCE
Health categories: GENERIC HEALTH RELEVANCE;MENTAL HEALTH
Title: Facilitating ethical preparedness in genomic medicine
Funder: Wellcome Trust

Abstract: This collaborative research programme will combine empirical bioethical research, conceptual, and theoretical analysis to examine the issue of ethical preparedness in the context of genomic medicine, and to inform and develop relevant policies for practice. We will conduct our research as genomic approaches to diagnosis and treatment, such as the 100,000 genome project, become embedded within health care. We will focus on the extent to which professionals are prepared for navigating the ethical issues within the new working environment of clinical genomics; one where research and clinical practice are more co-dependent than in the past, and where responsibilities of care, both to one person over time as well as to their current and future relatives are changing. The programme will utilise a range of research methods across a variety of settings to map the experience of practitioners, patients and participants in genomic medicine, the ethical issues they confront, and the impact on practice when these are challenging of their established practice, be that at the stage of recruitment/ introduction, diagnosis (or lack of), treatment, surveillance, longer term contact or need for contact of other .

Lay abstract: No Data Entered

Research activity codes: 8.3 POLICY, ETHICS AND RESEARCH GOVERNANCE
Health categories: GENERIC HEALTH RELEVANCE;MENTAL HEALTH