Bailey Katherine, Allemang Brooke, Vandermorris Ashley, Munce Sarah, Cleverley Kristin, Chisholm Cassandra, Cohen Eva, Davidson Cedar, El Galad Asil, Leibovich Dahlia, Lowthian Trinity, Pillainayagam Jeanna, Ramesh Harshini, Samson Anna, Senthilnathan Vjura, Siska Paul, Snider Madison, Toulany Alene
Temerty Faculty of Medicine, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada.
Institute of Health Policy, Management and Evaluation, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada.
Res Involv Engagem. 2024 Sep 2;10(1):92. doi: 10.1186/s40900-024-00607-w.
Youth engagement refers to the collaboration between researchers and youth to produce research. Youth engagement in health research has been shown to inform effective interventions aimed at improving health outcomes. However, limited evidence has identified promising practices to meaningfully engage youth. This synthesis aims to describe youth engagement approaches, frameworks, and barriers, as well as provide both evidence-based and youth-generated recommendations for meaningful engagement.
This review occurred in two stages: 1) a narrative review of existing literature on youth engagement and 2) a Youth Advisory Council (YAC) to review and supplement findings with their perspectives, experiences, and recommendations. The terms 'youth engagement' and 'health research' were searched in Google Scholar, PubMed, Web of Science, Scopus, and PsycINFO. Articles and non-peer reviewed research works related to youth engagement in health research were included, reviewed, and summarized. The YAC met with research team members and in separate youth-only forums to complement the narrative review with their perspectives. Types of youth engagement include participation as research participants, advisors, partners, and co-investigators. Barriers to youth engagement were organized into youth- (e.g., time commitments), researcher- (e.g., attitudes towards youth engagement), organizational- (e.g., inadequate infrastructure to support youth engagement), and system-level (e.g., systemic discrimination and exclusion from research). To enhance youth engagement, recommendations focus on preparing and supporting youth by offering flexible communication approaches, mentorship opportunities, diverse and inclusive recruitment, and ensuring youth understand the commitment and benefits involved.
To harness the potential of youth engagement, researchers need to establish an inclusive and enabling environment that fosters collaboration, trust, and valuable contributions from youth. Future research endeavors should prioritize investigating the dynamics of power-sharing between researchers and youth, assessing the impact of youth engagement on young participants, and youth-specific evaluation frameworks.
青年参与是指研究人员与青年合作开展研究。青年参与健康研究已被证明有助于制定旨在改善健康结果的有效干预措施。然而，仅有有限的证据确定了让青年有意义地参与的有效做法。本综述旨在描述青年参与的方法、框架和障碍，并提供基于证据以及青年提出的关于有意义参与的建议。
本综述分两个阶段进行：1）对关于青年参与的现有文献进行叙述性综述；2）成立一个青年咨询委员会（YAC），以其观点、经验和建议来审查并补充研究结果。在谷歌学术、PubMed、科学网、Scopus和PsycINFO中搜索了“青年参与”和“健康研究”这两个术语。纳入、审查并总结了与青年参与健康研究相关的文章和非同行评审的研究著作。青年咨询委员会与研究团队成员会面，并在专门的青年论坛上，以其观点补充叙述性综述。青年参与的类型包括作为研究参与者、顾问、合作伙伴和共同研究者参与。青年参与的障碍分为青年层面（如时间投入）、研究人员层面（如对青年参与的态度）、组织层面（如支持青年参与的基础设施不足）和系统层面（如系统性歧视以及被排除在研究之外）。为了加强青年参与，建议侧重于通过提供灵活的沟通方式、指导机会、多样化和包容性的招募方式来准备和支持青年，并确保青年了解其中涉及的承诺和益处。
为了充分发挥青年参与的潜力，研究人员需要建立一个包容且有利的环境，促进合作、信任以及青年做出有价值的贡献。未来的研究工作应优先调查研究人员与青年之间权力分享的动态情况，评估青年参与对年轻参与者的影响，以及针对青年的评估框架。
