Children, Young People, Families and Health Programme

Our overall aim is to understand better the main social factors that affect the health of children and young people. This should help us develop more appropriate programmes to improve their health. We are focusing on four areas which existing research suggest are especially important: the family, peers, schools and the mass media. We aim to: 1. understand better how family life influences children and young people’s health and how this varies between cultures; 2. understand better how the influence of families is related to the influence of peers, schools and the media; 3. understand how these influences might be improved by developing programmes and evaluating them; 4. improve the ability of young researchers and research organisations to do high quality research on these topics, particularly in east Africa. We are conducting new studies in the UK and east Africa using both qualitative methods (e.g. in-depth interviews) and quantitative methods (e.g. questionnaire surveys). In order to evaluate programmes we use a wide range of methods, investigating how programmes are implemented, how people respond to them, and what their impact is. We try to answer what works, in what way, for who, in what context? Where possible and appropriate we conduct randomised controlled trials. We are also bringing together existing research findings by systematically reviewing the published literature. We hope that this programme of research will help clarify the best ways to intervene to improve children and young people’s health, both in the UK and sub-Saharan Africa.

Our overall aim is to understand better the key social factors that shape the health of children and young people, with particular focus on the family, and through these understandings to develop and evaluate preventative interventions. There is increasing recognition that families, and in particular parent-child relationships, are a fundamental influence on young people’s health-related behaviours and health, especially in the early years. Although there is growing evidence that interventions with parents can have positive outcomes for their children, it has proved particularly challenging to recruit the parents of the most vulnerable children. Peers, schools and the mass media are other important influences on young people, though assessing their impact is complex. Schools and the mass media provide opportunities to promote health and, potentially, reach children and young people not readily accessed through parents. We have four broad objectives: • to understand better the influence of family life on health-related outcomes and how this varies socio-culturally, with particular focus on authoritarian parenting in east Africa • to understand better how the influence of families is interrelated with that of peers, schools and the media • to understand how these influences might be improved by developing and evaluating interventions, with particular focus on reaching the most vulnerable children and young people and on clarifying the causal pathways of interventions at both an individual and collective level • to strengthen research capacity, particularly in east Africa. Original observational and intervention studies are being conducted in the UK and east Africa, primarily Tanzania and Uganda, using both qualitative and quantitative methods. We use formative, process and outcome evaluations as appropriate, and where possible conduct randomised controlled trials. We are currently engaged in two large scale trials, one of a primary school social and emotional wellbeing programme, the other of early years interventions with vulnerable pregnant women. We are also bringing together existing research findings by systematically reviewing the published literature.