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Background: Disadvantaged young women in England have been documented as having unmet needs. This has resulted in the growth of gender-specific intensive intervention programmes in which a more holistic women-centred service approach is implemented. Gender matters because structural inequalities (bias and disadvantaging societal conditions) that girls are born with influence health, their outcomes and associated inequalities. Aims and objectives: Policy-makers frequently call for the outcomes of intervention programmes to be quantified, and while this is important, it can miss opportunities for critical insights into the subjective experiences of participants as well as the context and circumstances within which change occurs. Methods: This paper reports on evaluation findings from a prototype project (The Way Forward) with a focus on holistic improvement using gender-specific methods and approaches to promote health for disadvantaged young women in a community setting. Findings: This paper documents the voices of young women within the project, illustrated through their creation of storyboards within focus group discussions and interview data from their support workers. Findings highlight the importance of the relational dimension of one-to-one support in achieving positive change in the lives of young women, as well as the complexity associated with efforts to improve their health.

Much attention has been given in recent years to involving community members in research within a number of fields including community development. Indeed, there is a large amount of literature outlining what this process involves and describes the benefits and problems of doing such research across a range of contexts. There has also been some discussion of the different approaches that can be applied under the umbrella of community-based research and their relationship to the outcomes associated with both successful and positive community development. Yet very little attention has been paid to the actual experiences of these lay researchers involved in community-based research in relation to their roles. The nature of the researcher's role as work thus requires critical consideration. This article examines the role of lay researchers within four different approaches to community-based research used for the development of community action plans within the Objective 1, South Yorkshire context. This article reports upon differential roles and types of work in relation to both experiences and outcomes. The article, therefore, addresses what these different researcher roles tell us about community-based research and outlines the implications in relation to community development. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Young Femininity. Girlhood, Power and Social Change, Sinikka Aapola, Marnina Gonick and Anita Harris, (2005) Basingstoke: Palgrave/Macmillan, 264 pp., ISBN 0-333-96511-6 (hbk), £55; ISBN 0-333-96512-4 (pbk), £18.99 Enhancing Teaching in Higher Education – New Approaches for Improving Student Learning, Peter Hartley, Amanda Woods and Martin Pill (eds.), (2005) London: Routledge, 216 pp., ISBN 9780415341363 (hbk), £80; ISBN 9780415335294 (pbk), £25.99 e-Learning Skills, Alan Clarke, (2004) Basingstoke: Palgrave/Macmillan, 258 pp., ISBN 1-4039-1755-8 (pbk), £11-99 IT Skills for Successful Study, Alan Clarke, (2005) Basingstoke: Palgrave/Macmillan, 205 pp., ISBN 1-4039-9271-1 (pbk), £11.99 Reshaping Teaching in Higher Education: Linking Teaching with Research, Alan Jenkins, Rosanna Breen and Roger Lindsay, with Angela Brew, (2003) London: Staff and Educational Development Association and Kogan Page, xi + 210 pp., ISBN: 0 7494 3903 3 (pbk), £25 The University in the Global Age, Roger King (ed.), (2004) Basingstoke: Palgrave/Macmillan, 224 pp., ISBN 1 4039 3467 3 (hbk), £55; ISBN 1 4039 1130 4 (pbk), £18.99 SCRAN Website [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]