Dolaty, Sarah;
Midouhas, Emily;
Deighton, Jessica;
Somerville, Matthew P;
(2025)
Public participation in mental health programming: insights into the ways young people are involved in the development, delivery, and evaluation of mental health initiatives in school and community spaces.
International Journal of Adolescence and Youth
, 30
(1)
10.1080/02673843.2025.2498616.
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Abstract
Despite recent investments in England’s school mental health initiatives, these interventions continue to face challenges in sustainability and relevance. Youth participation in developing, delivering, and evaluating services can enhance their fit within school and community contexts. While evidence highlights the benefits of youth participation, little is known about the engagement approaches used as part of these mental health interventions. This study applied Davies’s (2009) Matrix Model to categorize 76 mental health participation activities across six local authorities in England. Findings reveal variations in youth influence and decision-making across participation methods, outlining key characteristics, aims, and features as reported by professional stakeholders. The results emphasize the need for intentional and transparent selection of participation approaches that align with programme goals. These insights have practical implications for school leaders, mental health researchers, intervention developers, and educational stakeholders seeking to integrate meaningful youth participation into mental health initiatives.
| Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| Title: | Public participation in mental health programming: insights into the ways young people are involved in the development, delivery, and evaluation of mental health initiatives in school and community spaces |
| Open access status: | An open access version is available from UCL Discovery |
| DOI: | 10.1080/02673843.2025.2498616 |
| Publisher version: | https://doi.org/10.1080/02673843.2025.2498616 |
| Language: | English |
| Additional information: | © 2025 The Author(s). Published by Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. The terms on which this article has been published allow the posting of the Accepted Manuscript in a repository by the author(s) or with their consent. |
| Keywords: | Mental health programming, models of participation, young people, youth |
| UCL classification: | UCL UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Education UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Education > UCL Institute of Education UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Education > UCL Institute of Education > IOE - Psychology and Human Development UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Brain Sciences UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Brain Sciences > Div of Psychology and Lang Sciences UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Brain Sciences > Div of Psychology and Lang Sciences > Clinical, Edu and Hlth Psychology |
| URI: | https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/10208593 |
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