Dallison Sophie, Slastikova Anastasia, Peel Hannah, Chamberlain Grace, Biddle Lucy, Teague Bonnie, Loades Maria Elizabeth, Higson-Sweeney Nina
Department of Psychology, University of Bath, UK.
NSFT Research, Norfolk and Suffolk NHS Foundation Trust, UK.
Clin Child Psychol Psychiatry. 2025 Aug 5;30(4):13591045251364408. doi: 10.1177/13591045251364408.
Young people (YP) have long been underserved in mental health research. Co-production is part of a significant shift in youth mental health research from tokenistic involvement practices towards more genuine, meaningful collaboration with the group that the research affects: young people. This commentary reflects on learnings from a co-production process in the context of Can We Connect (CWC), a qualitative study on where YP seek mental health information online and their attitudes towards what is available. Young researchers were involved in planning, co-conducting the interviews, contributed to the data analysis and dissemination. Based on our shared experiences as a research team, we aim to provide insights into and recommendations for co-production within qualitative youth mental health research. We ( = 12, including 4 young researchers, aged 16-18) reflected on our experiences of either being, or collaborating with, a young researcher in CWC. For us, having young researchers in a research team brings (1) value to YP and (2) value to research. (3) Capitalising on differences is important, (4) having structured support for young researchers and (5) balancing levels of involvement. Open, transparent and honest communication is key to building trust, enabling young researchers to be meaningfully involved members of research teams.
长期以来，年轻人在心理健康研究方面一直未得到充分关注。共同参与是青年心理健康研究的一个重大转变，从象征性的参与做法转向与研究影响的群体——年轻人进行更真实、有意义的合作。本评论反思了在“我们能联系吗”（CWC）项目背景下共同参与过程中的经验教训，CWC是一项关于年轻人在网上何处寻求心理健康信息以及他们对现有信息的态度的定性研究。年轻研究人员参与了研究计划、共同进行访谈、参与数据分析和传播工作。基于我们作为研究团队的共同经验，我们旨在为定性青年心理健康研究中的共同参与提供见解和建议。我们（共12人，包括4名年龄在16 - 18岁的年轻研究人员）反思了我们在CWC项目中作为年轻研究人员或与年轻研究人员合作的经历。对我们来说，研究团队中有年轻研究人员带来了（1）对年轻人的价值和（2）对研究的价值。（此外，）（3）利用差异很重要，（4）为年轻研究人员提供结构化支持，以及（5）平衡参与程度。开放、透明和诚实的沟通是建立信任的关键，能使年轻研究人员成为研究团队中有意义的参与成员。
