Stephens Madison, Rahmanfard Nargis, Conneely Maev, Bird Victoria, Knight Alec, Heritage Paul, Waseem Laiba, Nath Sopnil, Ansar Ariba, Choudhury Rida, Larkin Holly, Ali Wahaj, Lassoued Mariam, Vasanthakumar Lakshana, Sanchez Meagan Jade, Ullah Ali, Kiernan James Richard, De Padua-Johnson Roxanne, Kandasamy Amsika
Unit for Social and Community Psychiatry, WHO Collaborating Centre, Wolfson Institute of Population Health, Queen Mary University of London, London, UK.
Division of Psychiatry, University College London, London, UK.
Qual Health Res. 2024 Nov 14;35(9):10497323241291667. doi: 10.1177/10497323241291667.
Globally, mental health problems in adolescents, alongside associated morbidity and mortality, have never been higher. Local living, working and environmental conditions, socio-economics, and intra-individual and inter-individual processes impact mental health. The risk of developing mental health problems is higher in certain areas, including East London. However, limited research explores East London adolescents' experiences of mental health. An in-depth and locally situated understanding of determinants shaping East London adolescents' happiness and sadness is needed. This study used Photovoice, a qualitative method within a community-based participatory research methodology, to generate photographic and textual data, which was analyzed using reflexive thematic analysis. This method allows participants to be part of knowledge production and authors to present the data. Our findings underscore the bidirectional interplay between environmental factors and adolescents' happiness and sadness. Gratitude for nature was described as increasing happiness: adolescents connected to nature to memories, appreciation, and leisure opportunities. Adolescents were concerned about the fragility of nature in response to urban development. The urban environment was perceived as imposing, inspiring, and offering therapeutic benefits blighted by pollution. Beautiful areas were described as paradisical and lacking, revealing urban development and economic productivity disparities. Our research documents the voices of an under-researched group, revealing novel insights while empowering adolescents as co-producers of mental health research. This study indicates participatory research is valuable for granting adolescents autonomy and addressing misrepresentation. The findings implicate multiple stakeholders, including "Health in All Policies." By deepening our understanding of adolescent mental health in East London, our study can be leveraged to bolster the effectiveness and relevance of interventions for East London adolescents.
在全球范围内，青少年的心理健康问题以及相关的发病率和死亡率从未如此之高。当地的生活、工作和环境条件、社会经济状况以及个体内部和个体之间的过程都会影响心理健康。在某些地区，包括东伦敦，出现心理健康问题的风险更高。然而，对东伦敦青少年心理健康经历的研究有限。我们需要对塑造东伦敦青少年快乐与悲伤的决定因素有深入且基于当地情况的理解。本研究采用摄影之声法，这是一种基于社区参与式研究方法的定性方法，以生成照片和文本数据，并使用反思性主题分析法对其进行分析。这种方法使参与者能够成为知识生产的一部分，作者能够呈现数据。我们的研究结果强调了环境因素与青少年快乐和悲伤之间的双向相互作用。对自然的感激之情被描述为能增加幸福感：青少年将与自然的联系与记忆、欣赏和休闲机会联系起来。青少年担心城市发展对自然脆弱性的影响。城市环境被认为既有压迫感、又有启发性，还能带来治疗益处，但受到污染的破坏。美丽的地区被描述为如天堂般美好但又有所欠缺，揭示了城市发展和经济生产力的差距。我们的研究记录了一个研究不足群体的声音，揭示了新的见解，同时赋予青少年作为心理健康研究共同生产者的权力。这项研究表明，参与式研究对于赋予青少年自主权和解决信息失实问题很有价值。研究结果涉及多个利益相关者，包括“所有政策中的健康”。通过加深我们对东伦敦青少年心理健康的理解，我们的研究可被用于增强针对东伦敦青少年干预措施的有效性和相关性。
