Understanding and enhancing mental health competence - a promising new approach to improving lives for young people
Lead Research Organisation:
University College London
Department Name: Institute of Child Health
Abstract
Background
The Chief Medical Officer for England's Annual Reports 2012 and 2013 acknowledged the importance of promotion of mental health in young people, rather than focusing on mental health problems. One conceptualisation of positive mental health is mental health competence (MHC). MHC includes skills for getting along with and caring for others, as well as the capacity to manage emotions and behaviour. Improving MHC through school-based programmes may lead to benefits, ranging from reductions in risky behaviours such as substance use to higher school achievements. As young people move into adulthood, MHC skills are also assets in a rapidly changing labour market and participating as active citizens in society. There is good evidence that key elements of MHC are open to change in childhood and adolescence. We know that social and emotional learning (SEL) programmes in schools can achieve lasting effects on aspects of MHC, including social skills and prosociality. Our long-term aim is to accelerate the development of MHC interventions to improve young people's lives. However, there are a number of knowledge gaps before MHC programmes are ready to implement and evaluate.
Our proposal will establish a collaboration to begin to fill these gaps through 3 related workpackages (WP).
WP1. Working with young people, practitioners (health and education) and policy stakeholders to further develop MHC concepts
We will work with young people and stakeholders from health, school and policy settings to define and develop MHC concepts and plan WP2&3. Over many years, our work has included consultations with Young Research Advisors (YRAs) from the National Children's Bureau. We will engage with YRAs to ground the work within lived experiences, transforming MHC into a concept with meaning for young people and schools and real potential for interventions. Second, we will convene a stakeholder network to further develop MHC concepts and interventions. We will also discuss issues with translating interventions into practice.
WP2. Scoping school-based intervention typologies to identify candidate interventions with potential to modify MHC
One way to accelerate development of MHC-related interventions is to identify which existing effective school programmes around learning, mental health and wellbeing can or might influence MHC. We will examine recent evidence reviews to identify those interventions which theory or evidence suggests are likely to influence MHC and where changes in MHC may form part of the intervention's effects.
In this WP we will re-analyse data from one type of intervention (SEL). The INCLUSIVE trial included SEL elements and significantly reduced bullying and substance use and improved mental health, wellbeing and quality of life in young people. We will examine whether these benefits related to improvements in MHC.
WP3. Investigate the potential for MHC to improve outcomes at a population level
We will scope the potential for interventions around MHC to improve adolescent wellbeing by simulating the likely effect of improvements in MHC on key outcomes in young people. Our method evaluates potential national interventions where randomised trials are unfeasible or have not taken place. We will undertake one pilot simulation using the UK Millennium Cohort Study, assessing the impact of improving MHC at age 11 years (the transition to secondary school) on bullying, mental health, smoking and drinking and academic attainments at age 14-16 years.
Findings from the three WPs will be integrated by YRAs and members of the network and used to plan future work, including evaluations of trial data, modelling MHC interventions, development of future intervention pilots, and disseminating insights about implementation of interventions in practice, with the overall aim to improve health and wellbeing in young people.
The Chief Medical Officer for England's Annual Reports 2012 and 2013 acknowledged the importance of promotion of mental health in young people, rather than focusing on mental health problems. One conceptualisation of positive mental health is mental health competence (MHC). MHC includes skills for getting along with and caring for others, as well as the capacity to manage emotions and behaviour. Improving MHC through school-based programmes may lead to benefits, ranging from reductions in risky behaviours such as substance use to higher school achievements. As young people move into adulthood, MHC skills are also assets in a rapidly changing labour market and participating as active citizens in society. There is good evidence that key elements of MHC are open to change in childhood and adolescence. We know that social and emotional learning (SEL) programmes in schools can achieve lasting effects on aspects of MHC, including social skills and prosociality. Our long-term aim is to accelerate the development of MHC interventions to improve young people's lives. However, there are a number of knowledge gaps before MHC programmes are ready to implement and evaluate.
Our proposal will establish a collaboration to begin to fill these gaps through 3 related workpackages (WP).
WP1. Working with young people, practitioners (health and education) and policy stakeholders to further develop MHC concepts
We will work with young people and stakeholders from health, school and policy settings to define and develop MHC concepts and plan WP2&3. Over many years, our work has included consultations with Young Research Advisors (YRAs) from the National Children's Bureau. We will engage with YRAs to ground the work within lived experiences, transforming MHC into a concept with meaning for young people and schools and real potential for interventions. Second, we will convene a stakeholder network to further develop MHC concepts and interventions. We will also discuss issues with translating interventions into practice.
WP2. Scoping school-based intervention typologies to identify candidate interventions with potential to modify MHC
One way to accelerate development of MHC-related interventions is to identify which existing effective school programmes around learning, mental health and wellbeing can or might influence MHC. We will examine recent evidence reviews to identify those interventions which theory or evidence suggests are likely to influence MHC and where changes in MHC may form part of the intervention's effects.
In this WP we will re-analyse data from one type of intervention (SEL). The INCLUSIVE trial included SEL elements and significantly reduced bullying and substance use and improved mental health, wellbeing and quality of life in young people. We will examine whether these benefits related to improvements in MHC.
WP3. Investigate the potential for MHC to improve outcomes at a population level
We will scope the potential for interventions around MHC to improve adolescent wellbeing by simulating the likely effect of improvements in MHC on key outcomes in young people. Our method evaluates potential national interventions where randomised trials are unfeasible or have not taken place. We will undertake one pilot simulation using the UK Millennium Cohort Study, assessing the impact of improving MHC at age 11 years (the transition to secondary school) on bullying, mental health, smoking and drinking and academic attainments at age 14-16 years.
Findings from the three WPs will be integrated by YRAs and members of the network and used to plan future work, including evaluations of trial data, modelling MHC interventions, development of future intervention pilots, and disseminating insights about implementation of interventions in practice, with the overall aim to improve health and wellbeing in young people.
Technical Summary
Background
This project aims to increase knowledge about mental health competence (MHC), a skills-based conceptualisation of positive mental health, to accelerate the translation of MHC into practice.
Three aims:
1. To work with young people, practitioners and policy stakeholders to understand how MHC might operate and be intervened upon in school settings;
2. To investigate whether existing interventions to improve adolescent outcomes operate through increasing MHC;
3. To investigate the potential for changes in MHC to improve adolescent outcomes at population level.
Methodology
The aims will be addressed in 3 workpackages (WP).
WP1: working with stakeholders to further develop MHC concepts, undertaken with a) a group of young people trained to consult on, and co-create, research; and b) a newly convened network of practice, policy and academic stakeholders.
WP2: Scoping school-based intervention typologies to identify interventions with potential to modify MHC, using findings from WP1, a scoping review of MHC domains, and systematic reviews of relevant interventions. As proof of concept we will use data from a recent school trial to assess the extent to which MHC mediated effects of an intervention on bullying, mental health and wellbeing in secondary schools (INCLUSIVE), employing mixture models to disentangle effects of timing, school and trial arm.
WP3: Investigate the potential for MHC to improve outcomes at a population level. We will simulate intervention effects on prevalence and inequalities of adolescent outcomes (including bullying, risk-taking behaviours, educational performance), using marginal structural modelling methodology.
Application and exploitation of results
The 3 WPs will be integrated by investigators with young people and network members and inform future research applications. Findings will be pertinent to educational and health policy and service provision.
This project aims to increase knowledge about mental health competence (MHC), a skills-based conceptualisation of positive mental health, to accelerate the translation of MHC into practice.
Three aims:
1. To work with young people, practitioners and policy stakeholders to understand how MHC might operate and be intervened upon in school settings;
2. To investigate whether existing interventions to improve adolescent outcomes operate through increasing MHC;
3. To investigate the potential for changes in MHC to improve adolescent outcomes at population level.
Methodology
The aims will be addressed in 3 workpackages (WP).
WP1: working with stakeholders to further develop MHC concepts, undertaken with a) a group of young people trained to consult on, and co-create, research; and b) a newly convened network of practice, policy and academic stakeholders.
WP2: Scoping school-based intervention typologies to identify interventions with potential to modify MHC, using findings from WP1, a scoping review of MHC domains, and systematic reviews of relevant interventions. As proof of concept we will use data from a recent school trial to assess the extent to which MHC mediated effects of an intervention on bullying, mental health and wellbeing in secondary schools (INCLUSIVE), employing mixture models to disentangle effects of timing, school and trial arm.
WP3: Investigate the potential for MHC to improve outcomes at a population level. We will simulate intervention effects on prevalence and inequalities of adolescent outcomes (including bullying, risk-taking behaviours, educational performance), using marginal structural modelling methodology.
Application and exploitation of results
The 3 WPs will be integrated by investigators with young people and network members and inform future research applications. Findings will be pertinent to educational and health policy and service provision.
Planned Impact
Improving mental health in children and young people is a government priority crossing health, education and social care. Whilst there is great public and research interest in positive mental health and resilience in young people, these are broad concepts and can be difficult to measure in interventions. Our conceptualisation of MHC is readily operationalisable and measurable as a skill/competency-based construct. MHC therefore offers a promising new avenue for work promoting wellbeing and resilience in young people.
Our research and stakeholder network will inform advances in evidence-based, precision policy, providing evidence on the links between MHC and subsequent outcomes (bullying, risk-taking behaviours and education), with consequences across the life-course. The network will provide important information for future research and for service planning, helping identify opportunities to invest in services and interventions, and showing if improving MHC has the potential to ameliorate the impact of early adversity.
The research will focus on domains of MHC amenable to change and which may already be identified in existing policy. There has been no research into the impact of MHC as a potential underlying driver of the success of social and emotional learning interventions, or whether rolling out such interventions (designed to improve MHC) at a population level would lead to better health and well-being in adolescence. Using trial and cohort data, together with innovative modelling techniques we will begin to address these knowledge gaps. Findings will be pertinent to both policy and service provision for children and young people, and inform the development of health and educational interventions to support MHC and subsequent outcomes. The beneficiaries of this research (ordered as short, medium or long-term impacts) include:
Short term
Scoping and operationalising understandings of MHC will provide researchers with information on MHC which they can build upon in their own work in trials and cohort designs. The development and application of modelling to simulate interventions will provide the academic community with practical examples of the use of these cutting-edge methods.
Medium term
The collaboration will inform education and mental health policy-makers. For example, the green paper "Transforming Children and Young People's Mental Health Provision" and ensuing government initiatives have identified the importance of school context for mental health. Public Health England has identified 'resilience and emotional health' nationally as a 'high impact area' for school aged children, where school nurses/health visitors can have the greatest impact on child and family health and wellbeing.
Long term
This research has potential to act as a precursor to work developing and evaluating real world intervention, with opportunities to scale up into population interventions, with potential benefits for children and young people.
To deliver these impacts, we will integrate the views of young people through the NCB Young Research Advisors throughout the 12 months of the collaboration. We will also use links with policy fora, practitioners and policy-makers across health and education.
Viner is part of the Children's Policy Research Unit (DH&SC/NIHR) and directs the Obesity Policy Research Unit. He has strong links with the DH&SC /NIHR Mental Health Policy Research Unit, also at UCL. Schoon is Co-I of the ESRC funded Centre for the Study of Life Chances & Lifelong Learning in the Knowledge Economies (LLAKES), and advises the UK Evaluation of the Head Start Program, national governments, transnational and international organisations.
NCB co-ordinates the Partnership for Mental Health in Schools Network: "https://www.ncb.org.uk/what-we-do/together-we-deliver-better-childhood/transforming-mental-health-wellbeing/partnership)" which can be used as a channel for promotion and dissemination.
Our research and stakeholder network will inform advances in evidence-based, precision policy, providing evidence on the links between MHC and subsequent outcomes (bullying, risk-taking behaviours and education), with consequences across the life-course. The network will provide important information for future research and for service planning, helping identify opportunities to invest in services and interventions, and showing if improving MHC has the potential to ameliorate the impact of early adversity.
The research will focus on domains of MHC amenable to change and which may already be identified in existing policy. There has been no research into the impact of MHC as a potential underlying driver of the success of social and emotional learning interventions, or whether rolling out such interventions (designed to improve MHC) at a population level would lead to better health and well-being in adolescence. Using trial and cohort data, together with innovative modelling techniques we will begin to address these knowledge gaps. Findings will be pertinent to both policy and service provision for children and young people, and inform the development of health and educational interventions to support MHC and subsequent outcomes. The beneficiaries of this research (ordered as short, medium or long-term impacts) include:
Short term
Scoping and operationalising understandings of MHC will provide researchers with information on MHC which they can build upon in their own work in trials and cohort designs. The development and application of modelling to simulate interventions will provide the academic community with practical examples of the use of these cutting-edge methods.
Medium term
The collaboration will inform education and mental health policy-makers. For example, the green paper "Transforming Children and Young People's Mental Health Provision" and ensuing government initiatives have identified the importance of school context for mental health. Public Health England has identified 'resilience and emotional health' nationally as a 'high impact area' for school aged children, where school nurses/health visitors can have the greatest impact on child and family health and wellbeing.
Long term
This research has potential to act as a precursor to work developing and evaluating real world intervention, with opportunities to scale up into population interventions, with potential benefits for children and young people.
To deliver these impacts, we will integrate the views of young people through the NCB Young Research Advisors throughout the 12 months of the collaboration. We will also use links with policy fora, practitioners and policy-makers across health and education.
Viner is part of the Children's Policy Research Unit (DH&SC/NIHR) and directs the Obesity Policy Research Unit. He has strong links with the DH&SC /NIHR Mental Health Policy Research Unit, also at UCL. Schoon is Co-I of the ESRC funded Centre for the Study of Life Chances & Lifelong Learning in the Knowledge Economies (LLAKES), and advises the UK Evaluation of the Head Start Program, national governments, transnational and international organisations.
NCB co-ordinates the Partnership for Mental Health in Schools Network: "https://www.ncb.org.uk/what-we-do/together-we-deliver-better-childhood/transforming-mental-health-wellbeing/partnership)" which can be used as a channel for promotion and dissemination.
Organisations
- University College London (Lead Research Organisation)
- University College London (Collaboration)
- Anna Freud Centre (Collaboration)
- Association for Young People's Health (AYPH) (Collaboration)
- The Health Foundation (Collaboration)
- National Health Service (Collaboration)
- National Children's Bureau (Collaboration)
- Royal Foundation (Collaboration)
- IMPERIAL COLLEGE LONDON (Collaboration)
- UNIVERSITY OF OXFORD (Collaboration)
- Murdoch Children's Research Institute (Collaboration)
- PSHE ASSOCIATION (Collaboration)
- London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine (LSHTM) (Collaboration)
- KING'S COLLEGE LONDON (Collaboration)
Publications
O'Connor M
(2022)
Natural history of mental health competence from childhood to adolescence.
in Journal of epidemiology and community health
| Description | Discussions about development of children and young people mental health workstream at the Royal Foundation |
| Organisation | Royal Foundation |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Charity/Non Profit |
| PI Contribution | Meeting with Royal Foundation staff members to discuss our mental health competence research findings, implications, and future research planning. |
| Collaborator Contribution | Meeting with project team members to learn more about mental health competence and to engage in discussions about how findings might inform the development of Royal Foundation workstream on the mental health of children and young people. |
| Impact | Engagement with the Royal Foundation; dissemination of project findings. |
| Start Year | 2021 |
| Description | Emerging collaboration: Learning Together for Mental Health (LTMH) |
| Organisation | Imperial College London |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| PI Contribution | Mental health competence concepts and evidence will be used to inform a new school intervention on mental health (LTMH), taking into account evidence from our engagement award activities. We carried out a review of reviews of school-based interventions such as social and emotional learning (SEL) programmes. The review showed that interventions produced short and long-term benefits across a range of outcomes, including mental health competence skills as well as more distal outcomes, such as academic achievement, health and well-being. No review focused exclusively on the impact of interventions on mental health competence skills, mental health competence skills in combination, or mechanisms linking interventions with improvements in mental health competence skills. In addition, other research carried out within the engagement award has highlighted the potential importance of the school as a focus of mental health competence efforts. Using Key Stage 2 (KS2) assessments for English, Maths and Science linked to the Millennium Cohort Study, we estimated cross-sectional associations at age 11 years between mental health competence and performance in KS2 assessments, accounting for sociodemographic factors. We showed that high mental health competence was associated with a better KS2 performance and low mental health competence with worse KS2 performance. We also used an innovative causal modelling technique to estimate the potential impact of mental health competence interventions at age 11 years (as though through a school intervention) on outcomes at 14 years in the Millennium Cohort Study: that is, what might happen if you could scale-up to the whole country an intervention to improve mental health competence? Results suggest that improving mental health competence may have beneficial consequences for diverse outcomes. Finally, we reanalysed data from a school intervention, the INCLUSIVE trial, which included SEL elements and significantly reduced bullying and substance use and improved mental health, wellbeing and quality of life in young people. We found higher levels of mental health competence in the intervention arm of the trial, and better trial outcomes in young people with high mental health competence. We will be taking into account learnings from our work on the review, data analysis and engagement activities, in an NIHR-funded feasibility study that will begin shortly, which aims to develop a whole-school intervention (LTMH) to focus directly on improving mental health and wellbeing. |
| Collaborator Contribution | Chris Bonell (LSHTM) co-leads this project with Russell Viner (who was the PI on the mental health competence engagement award). Co-investigators include Dasha Nicholls, Imperial (who was a collaborator on the mental health competence engagement award), Stephen Scott, KCL, and Lee Hudson, UCL ICH. The investigator team has substantial experience of mental health competence concepts and research and whole-school intervention design and evaluation. |
| Impact | The trial is in the design phase, but mental health competence concepts and learning have been included as a focus from the outset. |
| Start Year | 2021 |
| Description | Emerging collaboration: Learning Together for Mental Health (LTMH) |
| Organisation | King's College London |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| PI Contribution | Mental health competence concepts and evidence will be used to inform a new school intervention on mental health (LTMH), taking into account evidence from our engagement award activities. We carried out a review of reviews of school-based interventions such as social and emotional learning (SEL) programmes. The review showed that interventions produced short and long-term benefits across a range of outcomes, including mental health competence skills as well as more distal outcomes, such as academic achievement, health and well-being. No review focused exclusively on the impact of interventions on mental health competence skills, mental health competence skills in combination, or mechanisms linking interventions with improvements in mental health competence skills. In addition, other research carried out within the engagement award has highlighted the potential importance of the school as a focus of mental health competence efforts. Using Key Stage 2 (KS2) assessments for English, Maths and Science linked to the Millennium Cohort Study, we estimated cross-sectional associations at age 11 years between mental health competence and performance in KS2 assessments, accounting for sociodemographic factors. We showed that high mental health competence was associated with a better KS2 performance and low mental health competence with worse KS2 performance. We also used an innovative causal modelling technique to estimate the potential impact of mental health competence interventions at age 11 years (as though through a school intervention) on outcomes at 14 years in the Millennium Cohort Study: that is, what might happen if you could scale-up to the whole country an intervention to improve mental health competence? Results suggest that improving mental health competence may have beneficial consequences for diverse outcomes. Finally, we reanalysed data from a school intervention, the INCLUSIVE trial, which included SEL elements and significantly reduced bullying and substance use and improved mental health, wellbeing and quality of life in young people. We found higher levels of mental health competence in the intervention arm of the trial, and better trial outcomes in young people with high mental health competence. We will be taking into account learnings from our work on the review, data analysis and engagement activities, in an NIHR-funded feasibility study that will begin shortly, which aims to develop a whole-school intervention (LTMH) to focus directly on improving mental health and wellbeing. |
| Collaborator Contribution | Chris Bonell (LSHTM) co-leads this project with Russell Viner (who was the PI on the mental health competence engagement award). Co-investigators include Dasha Nicholls, Imperial (who was a collaborator on the mental health competence engagement award), Stephen Scott, KCL, and Lee Hudson, UCL ICH. The investigator team has substantial experience of mental health competence concepts and research and whole-school intervention design and evaluation. |
| Impact | The trial is in the design phase, but mental health competence concepts and learning have been included as a focus from the outset. |
| Start Year | 2021 |
| Description | Emerging collaboration: Learning Together for Mental Health (LTMH) |
| Organisation | London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine (LSHTM) |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| PI Contribution | Mental health competence concepts and evidence will be used to inform a new school intervention on mental health (LTMH), taking into account evidence from our engagement award activities. We carried out a review of reviews of school-based interventions such as social and emotional learning (SEL) programmes. The review showed that interventions produced short and long-term benefits across a range of outcomes, including mental health competence skills as well as more distal outcomes, such as academic achievement, health and well-being. No review focused exclusively on the impact of interventions on mental health competence skills, mental health competence skills in combination, or mechanisms linking interventions with improvements in mental health competence skills. In addition, other research carried out within the engagement award has highlighted the potential importance of the school as a focus of mental health competence efforts. Using Key Stage 2 (KS2) assessments for English, Maths and Science linked to the Millennium Cohort Study, we estimated cross-sectional associations at age 11 years between mental health competence and performance in KS2 assessments, accounting for sociodemographic factors. We showed that high mental health competence was associated with a better KS2 performance and low mental health competence with worse KS2 performance. We also used an innovative causal modelling technique to estimate the potential impact of mental health competence interventions at age 11 years (as though through a school intervention) on outcomes at 14 years in the Millennium Cohort Study: that is, what might happen if you could scale-up to the whole country an intervention to improve mental health competence? Results suggest that improving mental health competence may have beneficial consequences for diverse outcomes. Finally, we reanalysed data from a school intervention, the INCLUSIVE trial, which included SEL elements and significantly reduced bullying and substance use and improved mental health, wellbeing and quality of life in young people. We found higher levels of mental health competence in the intervention arm of the trial, and better trial outcomes in young people with high mental health competence. We will be taking into account learnings from our work on the review, data analysis and engagement activities, in an NIHR-funded feasibility study that will begin shortly, which aims to develop a whole-school intervention (LTMH) to focus directly on improving mental health and wellbeing. |
| Collaborator Contribution | Chris Bonell (LSHTM) co-leads this project with Russell Viner (who was the PI on the mental health competence engagement award). Co-investigators include Dasha Nicholls, Imperial (who was a collaborator on the mental health competence engagement award), Stephen Scott, KCL, and Lee Hudson, UCL ICH. The investigator team has substantial experience of mental health competence concepts and research and whole-school intervention design and evaluation. |
| Impact | The trial is in the design phase, but mental health competence concepts and learning have been included as a focus from the outset. |
| Start Year | 2021 |
| Description | Emerging collaboration: Learning Together for Mental Health (LTMH) |
| Organisation | University College London |
| Department | Institute of Child Health |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| PI Contribution | Mental health competence concepts and evidence will be used to inform a new school intervention on mental health (LTMH), taking into account evidence from our engagement award activities. We carried out a review of reviews of school-based interventions such as social and emotional learning (SEL) programmes. The review showed that interventions produced short and long-term benefits across a range of outcomes, including mental health competence skills as well as more distal outcomes, such as academic achievement, health and well-being. No review focused exclusively on the impact of interventions on mental health competence skills, mental health competence skills in combination, or mechanisms linking interventions with improvements in mental health competence skills. In addition, other research carried out within the engagement award has highlighted the potential importance of the school as a focus of mental health competence efforts. Using Key Stage 2 (KS2) assessments for English, Maths and Science linked to the Millennium Cohort Study, we estimated cross-sectional associations at age 11 years between mental health competence and performance in KS2 assessments, accounting for sociodemographic factors. We showed that high mental health competence was associated with a better KS2 performance and low mental health competence with worse KS2 performance. We also used an innovative causal modelling technique to estimate the potential impact of mental health competence interventions at age 11 years (as though through a school intervention) on outcomes at 14 years in the Millennium Cohort Study: that is, what might happen if you could scale-up to the whole country an intervention to improve mental health competence? Results suggest that improving mental health competence may have beneficial consequences for diverse outcomes. Finally, we reanalysed data from a school intervention, the INCLUSIVE trial, which included SEL elements and significantly reduced bullying and substance use and improved mental health, wellbeing and quality of life in young people. We found higher levels of mental health competence in the intervention arm of the trial, and better trial outcomes in young people with high mental health competence. We will be taking into account learnings from our work on the review, data analysis and engagement activities, in an NIHR-funded feasibility study that will begin shortly, which aims to develop a whole-school intervention (LTMH) to focus directly on improving mental health and wellbeing. |
| Collaborator Contribution | Chris Bonell (LSHTM) co-leads this project with Russell Viner (who was the PI on the mental health competence engagement award). Co-investigators include Dasha Nicholls, Imperial (who was a collaborator on the mental health competence engagement award), Stephen Scott, KCL, and Lee Hudson, UCL ICH. The investigator team has substantial experience of mental health competence concepts and research and whole-school intervention design and evaluation. |
| Impact | The trial is in the design phase, but mental health competence concepts and learning have been included as a focus from the outset. |
| Start Year | 2021 |
| Description | Emerging collaboration: NHS England colleagues |
| Organisation | NHS England |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Public |
| PI Contribution | Discussions with NHS England Mental Health Support Teams about the potential role of mental health competence in their service provision. |
| Collaborator Contribution | Attendance by representatives of NHS England Mental Health Support Teams at the project stakeholder engagement event; subsequent discussions about how they might equip Mental Health Support Teams to offer support to improve mental health competence, and also how they might look at data in the future gathered through the MHSTs to assess enhancement of mental health competency skills. |
| Impact | Initial engagement between the project team and NHSE Mental Health Support Team representatives. |
| Start Year | 2021 |
| Description | Emerging collaboration: colleagues from Imperial College |
| Organisation | Imperial College London |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| PI Contribution | Engaging with colleagues at Imperian College. Invitation to Dasha Nicholls to join the original engagement award as a collaborator; subsequently working together on developing funding applications with a focus on mental health competence; discussions with Mireille Toledano on research on mental health competence using data from the SCAMP study of school children (on which she is the PI), focusing on mental health competence and resilience. |
| Collaborator Contribution | Dasha Nicholls has expertise in mental health research (including our mental health competence research) and works closely with Mireille Toledano at Imperial College. Mireille brings expertise in population research and the SCAMP study. |
| Impact | This collaboration has already led to the incorporation of mental health competence elements within a submission for UKRI Developing Mind programme funding, led by Dasha Nicholls - this application reached second stage in the selection process but was ultimately unsuccessful. |
| Start Year | 2020 |
| Description | Emerging collaboration: colleagues from Melbourne |
| Organisation | Murdoch Children's Research Institute |
| Country | Australia |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| PI Contribution | Initial engagement with MCRI collaborators (resulting in their becoming collaborators in the original project. Collaboration in carrying out cross-national research and writing a paper that has been published. Discussions about future collaboration on a cross-national analysis of psychosocial outcomes during the pandemic between UK and Australia, exploring whether higher mental health competence protected young people against poorer outcomes (in collaboration with Sharon Goldfeld and Meredith O'Connor, MCRI). |
| Collaborator Contribution | Collaboration on the original mental health competence engagement award, resulting in a publication (with Sharon Goldfeld and Meredith O'Connor, MCRI). . Discussions about the potential for a cross-national analysis of psychosocial outcomes during the pandemic between UK and Australia, exploring whether higher mental health competence protected young people against poorer outcomes. |
| Impact | Initial collaboration as part of the initial project led to the publication of a paper on the comparative trajectories of mental health competence in the UK and Australia. This collaboration includes expertise in public health, mental health competence, psychology and life course expertise. |
| Start Year | 2020 |
| Description | Project collaborators group |
| Organisation | Association for Young People's Health (AYPH) |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Charity/Non Profit |
| PI Contribution | Identifying and recruiting members of this group, leading the group and co-ordinating their contribution to the project. |
| Collaborator Contribution | Project advisory support throughout the project, including advising on project design and assessment of progress and outputs; support for planning of PPI and stakeholder engagement; and planning future work. The project comprised a team investigators and collaborators from academia, the NHS and the third sector, and from the UK and Australia (UCL GOS Institute of Child Health; UCL Institute of Education; University of Oxford; Anna Freud Centre; Imperial College London; Association for Young People's Health; National Children's Bureau; Health Foundation; Murdoch Children's Research Institute, University of Melbourne). During the course of the project, the team collaborated to develop the research plan and engagement activities, to identify key stakeholders with relevant policy and practice experience and interests from education and health sectors, and to produce project outputs. Members of the project team intend to continue working on MHC through future funding applications. The Murdoch Children's Research Institute in Melbourne are experts in the measurement and policy impact of mental health competence. They have provided insights from the Australian context to inform project planning, and have collaborated with us on a published output looking at the natural history of MHC in the UK and Australia. The Association for Young People's Health is the UK's leading independent voice for young people's health, working to improve the health and wellbeing of 10-24 year olds. They collaborated with us on policy and practice stakeholder engagement activities. The Health Foundation is independent charity committed to bringing about better health and health care for people in the UK, which has recently carried out research on how educational settings can have a profound effect on young people's mental health and wellbeing. They collaborated in advising on the policy and practice context for the project and project outputs. Dasha Nicholls (Imperial College) is Reader in Child Psychiatry. She has an international reputation in child and adolescent mental health, particularly relating to eating disorders. She has a particular interest in promoting mental health and wellbeing through schools and collaborated on conceptualisation issues for mental health competence, and in project outputs. The National Children's Bureau advised on project design and co-ordinated PPI work during the project with members of their Young Research Advisors group. |
| Impact | This partnership has been multidisciplinary and includes experts in measurement of mental health, international comparisons, PPI and engagement work, medicine, and health and education policy and practice. Members of the group co-authored papers on the natural history of mental health competence in the UK and Australia (published) and on the link between mental health competence and psychological and behavioural outcomes during the COVID pandemic lockdown (submitted). Future work is being planned with members of this group. |
| Start Year | 2020 |
| Description | Project collaborators group |
| Organisation | Imperial College London |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| PI Contribution | Identifying and recruiting members of this group, leading the group and co-ordinating their contribution to the project. |
| Collaborator Contribution | Project advisory support throughout the project, including advising on project design and assessment of progress and outputs; support for planning of PPI and stakeholder engagement; and planning future work. The project comprised a team investigators and collaborators from academia, the NHS and the third sector, and from the UK and Australia (UCL GOS Institute of Child Health; UCL Institute of Education; University of Oxford; Anna Freud Centre; Imperial College London; Association for Young People's Health; National Children's Bureau; Health Foundation; Murdoch Children's Research Institute, University of Melbourne). During the course of the project, the team collaborated to develop the research plan and engagement activities, to identify key stakeholders with relevant policy and practice experience and interests from education and health sectors, and to produce project outputs. Members of the project team intend to continue working on MHC through future funding applications. The Murdoch Children's Research Institute in Melbourne are experts in the measurement and policy impact of mental health competence. They have provided insights from the Australian context to inform project planning, and have collaborated with us on a published output looking at the natural history of MHC in the UK and Australia. The Association for Young People's Health is the UK's leading independent voice for young people's health, working to improve the health and wellbeing of 10-24 year olds. They collaborated with us on policy and practice stakeholder engagement activities. The Health Foundation is independent charity committed to bringing about better health and health care for people in the UK, which has recently carried out research on how educational settings can have a profound effect on young people's mental health and wellbeing. They collaborated in advising on the policy and practice context for the project and project outputs. Dasha Nicholls (Imperial College) is Reader in Child Psychiatry. She has an international reputation in child and adolescent mental health, particularly relating to eating disorders. She has a particular interest in promoting mental health and wellbeing through schools and collaborated on conceptualisation issues for mental health competence, and in project outputs. The National Children's Bureau advised on project design and co-ordinated PPI work during the project with members of their Young Research Advisors group. |
| Impact | This partnership has been multidisciplinary and includes experts in measurement of mental health, international comparisons, PPI and engagement work, medicine, and health and education policy and practice. Members of the group co-authored papers on the natural history of mental health competence in the UK and Australia (published) and on the link between mental health competence and psychological and behavioural outcomes during the COVID pandemic lockdown (submitted). Future work is being planned with members of this group. |
| Start Year | 2020 |
| Description | Project collaborators group |
| Organisation | Murdoch Children's Research Institute |
| Country | Australia |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| PI Contribution | Identifying and recruiting members of this group, leading the group and co-ordinating their contribution to the project. |
| Collaborator Contribution | Project advisory support throughout the project, including advising on project design and assessment of progress and outputs; support for planning of PPI and stakeholder engagement; and planning future work. The project comprised a team investigators and collaborators from academia, the NHS and the third sector, and from the UK and Australia (UCL GOS Institute of Child Health; UCL Institute of Education; University of Oxford; Anna Freud Centre; Imperial College London; Association for Young People's Health; National Children's Bureau; Health Foundation; Murdoch Children's Research Institute, University of Melbourne). During the course of the project, the team collaborated to develop the research plan and engagement activities, to identify key stakeholders with relevant policy and practice experience and interests from education and health sectors, and to produce project outputs. Members of the project team intend to continue working on MHC through future funding applications. The Murdoch Children's Research Institute in Melbourne are experts in the measurement and policy impact of mental health competence. They have provided insights from the Australian context to inform project planning, and have collaborated with us on a published output looking at the natural history of MHC in the UK and Australia. The Association for Young People's Health is the UK's leading independent voice for young people's health, working to improve the health and wellbeing of 10-24 year olds. They collaborated with us on policy and practice stakeholder engagement activities. The Health Foundation is independent charity committed to bringing about better health and health care for people in the UK, which has recently carried out research on how educational settings can have a profound effect on young people's mental health and wellbeing. They collaborated in advising on the policy and practice context for the project and project outputs. Dasha Nicholls (Imperial College) is Reader in Child Psychiatry. She has an international reputation in child and adolescent mental health, particularly relating to eating disorders. She has a particular interest in promoting mental health and wellbeing through schools and collaborated on conceptualisation issues for mental health competence, and in project outputs. The National Children's Bureau advised on project design and co-ordinated PPI work during the project with members of their Young Research Advisors group. |
| Impact | This partnership has been multidisciplinary and includes experts in measurement of mental health, international comparisons, PPI and engagement work, medicine, and health and education policy and practice. Members of the group co-authored papers on the natural history of mental health competence in the UK and Australia (published) and on the link between mental health competence and psychological and behavioural outcomes during the COVID pandemic lockdown (submitted). Future work is being planned with members of this group. |
| Start Year | 2020 |
| Description | Project collaborators group |
| Organisation | National Children's Bureau |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Charity/Non Profit |
| PI Contribution | Identifying and recruiting members of this group, leading the group and co-ordinating their contribution to the project. |
| Collaborator Contribution | Project advisory support throughout the project, including advising on project design and assessment of progress and outputs; support for planning of PPI and stakeholder engagement; and planning future work. The project comprised a team investigators and collaborators from academia, the NHS and the third sector, and from the UK and Australia (UCL GOS Institute of Child Health; UCL Institute of Education; University of Oxford; Anna Freud Centre; Imperial College London; Association for Young People's Health; National Children's Bureau; Health Foundation; Murdoch Children's Research Institute, University of Melbourne). During the course of the project, the team collaborated to develop the research plan and engagement activities, to identify key stakeholders with relevant policy and practice experience and interests from education and health sectors, and to produce project outputs. Members of the project team intend to continue working on MHC through future funding applications. The Murdoch Children's Research Institute in Melbourne are experts in the measurement and policy impact of mental health competence. They have provided insights from the Australian context to inform project planning, and have collaborated with us on a published output looking at the natural history of MHC in the UK and Australia. The Association for Young People's Health is the UK's leading independent voice for young people's health, working to improve the health and wellbeing of 10-24 year olds. They collaborated with us on policy and practice stakeholder engagement activities. The Health Foundation is independent charity committed to bringing about better health and health care for people in the UK, which has recently carried out research on how educational settings can have a profound effect on young people's mental health and wellbeing. They collaborated in advising on the policy and practice context for the project and project outputs. Dasha Nicholls (Imperial College) is Reader in Child Psychiatry. She has an international reputation in child and adolescent mental health, particularly relating to eating disorders. She has a particular interest in promoting mental health and wellbeing through schools and collaborated on conceptualisation issues for mental health competence, and in project outputs. The National Children's Bureau advised on project design and co-ordinated PPI work during the project with members of their Young Research Advisors group. |
| Impact | This partnership has been multidisciplinary and includes experts in measurement of mental health, international comparisons, PPI and engagement work, medicine, and health and education policy and practice. Members of the group co-authored papers on the natural history of mental health competence in the UK and Australia (published) and on the link between mental health competence and psychological and behavioural outcomes during the COVID pandemic lockdown (submitted). Future work is being planned with members of this group. |
| Start Year | 2020 |
| Description | Project collaborators group |
| Organisation | The Health Foundation |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Charity/Non Profit |
| PI Contribution | Identifying and recruiting members of this group, leading the group and co-ordinating their contribution to the project. |
| Collaborator Contribution | Project advisory support throughout the project, including advising on project design and assessment of progress and outputs; support for planning of PPI and stakeholder engagement; and planning future work. The project comprised a team investigators and collaborators from academia, the NHS and the third sector, and from the UK and Australia (UCL GOS Institute of Child Health; UCL Institute of Education; University of Oxford; Anna Freud Centre; Imperial College London; Association for Young People's Health; National Children's Bureau; Health Foundation; Murdoch Children's Research Institute, University of Melbourne). During the course of the project, the team collaborated to develop the research plan and engagement activities, to identify key stakeholders with relevant policy and practice experience and interests from education and health sectors, and to produce project outputs. Members of the project team intend to continue working on MHC through future funding applications. The Murdoch Children's Research Institute in Melbourne are experts in the measurement and policy impact of mental health competence. They have provided insights from the Australian context to inform project planning, and have collaborated with us on a published output looking at the natural history of MHC in the UK and Australia. The Association for Young People's Health is the UK's leading independent voice for young people's health, working to improve the health and wellbeing of 10-24 year olds. They collaborated with us on policy and practice stakeholder engagement activities. The Health Foundation is independent charity committed to bringing about better health and health care for people in the UK, which has recently carried out research on how educational settings can have a profound effect on young people's mental health and wellbeing. They collaborated in advising on the policy and practice context for the project and project outputs. Dasha Nicholls (Imperial College) is Reader in Child Psychiatry. She has an international reputation in child and adolescent mental health, particularly relating to eating disorders. She has a particular interest in promoting mental health and wellbeing through schools and collaborated on conceptualisation issues for mental health competence, and in project outputs. The National Children's Bureau advised on project design and co-ordinated PPI work during the project with members of their Young Research Advisors group. |
| Impact | This partnership has been multidisciplinary and includes experts in measurement of mental health, international comparisons, PPI and engagement work, medicine, and health and education policy and practice. Members of the group co-authored papers on the natural history of mental health competence in the UK and Australia (published) and on the link between mental health competence and psychological and behavioural outcomes during the COVID pandemic lockdown (submitted). Future work is being planned with members of this group. |
| Start Year | 2020 |
| Description | Project investigator group |
| Organisation | Anna Freud Centre |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Charity/Non Profit |
| PI Contribution | Co-ordinating the project investigator group; disseminating project information; preparing project outputs |
| Collaborator Contribution | Expert insight to inform project design and planning; assessment of project plans and contribution to project outputs |
| Impact | Input in PPI planning; Input into stakeholder engagement planning; co-authoring draft papers pre-submission to journals. Co-investigators comprise individuals with backgrounds in psychology and medicine (mental health for young people). |
| Start Year | 2020 |
| Description | Project investigator group |
| Organisation | University College London |
| Department | Institute of Education (IOE) |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| PI Contribution | Co-ordinating the project investigator group; disseminating project information; preparing project outputs |
| Collaborator Contribution | Expert insight to inform project design and planning; assessment of project plans and contribution to project outputs |
| Impact | Input in PPI planning; Input into stakeholder engagement planning; co-authoring draft papers pre-submission to journals. Co-investigators comprise individuals with backgrounds in psychology and medicine (mental health for young people). |
| Start Year | 2020 |
| Description | Project investigator group |
| Organisation | University of Oxford |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| PI Contribution | Co-ordinating the project investigator group; disseminating project information; preparing project outputs |
| Collaborator Contribution | Expert insight to inform project design and planning; assessment of project plans and contribution to project outputs |
| Impact | Input in PPI planning; Input into stakeholder engagement planning; co-authoring draft papers pre-submission to journals. Co-investigators comprise individuals with backgrounds in psychology and medicine (mental health for young people). |
| Start Year | 2020 |
| Description | Project messaging support; translational support; developing school-based research. |
| Organisation | PSHE Association |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Charity/Non Profit |
| PI Contribution | Generated project materials for information and discussion; organised and participated in meetings with PSHE Association. Project research findings will soon be disseminated to the PSHE Association membership through channels including a blog and a podcast. |
| Collaborator Contribution | The PSHE Association is the national body for personal, social, health and economic (PSHE) education. They assisted with checking some of the messaging arising from the research and findings for education policymakers and practitioners. The PSHE Association has also engaged in discussions with us about translation of research findings into practice within schools, and about practical considerations for developing school-based interventions of mental health competence. |
| Impact | They assisted with checking messaging arising from the research and findings for education policymakers and practitioners. They have informed the development of a whole-school intervention that will include mental health competence. |
| Start Year | 2021 |
| Description | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar - Email engagement with young people |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Study participants or study members |
| Results and Impact | National Children's Bureau Young Research Advisors participated in an email consultation towards the end of the project (reflecting on the practical implications of the research findings), providing insights into the research which has informed dissemination and planning for future research. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2021 |
| Description | Stakeholder engagement |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | The Association for Young People's Health organised a virtual stakeholder event towards the end of the project with attendees from the NHS, local authorities, education, academia, the voluntary sector, pharmacy, youth work and funding bodies, discussing the practical usefulness and relevance of mental health competence skills, research findings, embedding mental health competence in policy and practice, and next steps. In summary, the delegates indicated that there is a need to advocate for mental health competence, while in order to provide opportunities to develop mental health competence skills there should be an acknowledgement of the pressures faced by organisations engaged with young people's mental health and well-being (schools, NHS and voluntary sector), as well as on staff and the young people themselves. There was recognition of the need to support research on mental health competence, including through the use of data already collected by services. Following this event, there has been further engagement with practitioners about the potential to incorporate mental health competence in education and health service activities and evaluation. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2021 |
| Description | Virtual engagement session with young people |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Study participants or study members |
| Results and Impact | National Children's Bureau Young Research Advisors participated in a virtual event that took place in the first few months of the project, discussing issues around the meaning of mental health competence, and the role of schools in developing these skills. The young people raised issues about definition, appropriate terminology and practical issues of schools supporting mental health which informed the remainder of the project. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2020 |