Creating a place for experiential youth in mental health research

Purpose: The presentation will share findings from a project engaging urban based youth with mental health challenges in a design thinking approach to research. Method: Twenty-eight youth aged 15-24 with identified mental... [ view full abstract ]

Purpose:
The presentation will share findings from a project engaging urban based youth with mental health challenges in a design thinking approach to research.

Method:
Twenty-eight youth aged 15-24 with identified mental health challenges (including anxiety, depression, eating disorders and psychosis) participated in a design lab to generate research questions about promoting positive mental health among youth. Participants self-selected into smaller groups and were trained in quantitative analysis, qualitative analysis, report writing, dissemination, or facilitation, based on their interests.

Results:
Over a two-month period, participants used data from the 2013 BC Adolescent Health Survey (n=30,000 youth) to produce a full-length community friendly research report detailing risks and protective factors for promoting youth mental health. In addition to the report being used to guide policy and service delivery, the youth researchers have drawn on the report to develop a youth-friendly workshop which they are delivering across Vancouver, BC.
Evaluation findings indicated that 100% of youth researchers stayed engaged throughout the project. They reported improvements in their research skills, knowledge of how to promote positive mental health, and improvements in their own mental health because of their involvement in this initiative.

Conclusions
Engaging youth with mental health challenges in research can produce individual and community benefits by answering research questions of importance to young people, and providing reliable data for policy makers and service providers.