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Background: Practitioners who support unaccompanied minors (UAMs) come from different professional backgrounds and often are not appropriately trained to address children's complex mental health needs. This gap informed a training programme across all accommodation centres in Greece. Methods: The aim of the Train-of-Trainer (ToT) national programme was to upskill trainers from 17 organisations to cascade knowledge. Training was interprofessional, trauma-informed and culturally sensitive. A pilot implementation involved 199 practitioners from all disciplines. A sub-sample of 33 practitioners, nine managers and six trainers shared their experiences in focus group discussions, which were analysed through a thematic framework. Results: Participants found that the programme was useful in generating knowledge relevant to children's needs and their roles, addressing the emotional impact of trauma on staff, sharing learning across professional disciplines and being interactive, but systemic support should be put in place for benefits to be sustained. Conclusions: Train-of-Trainer is a resource-effective approach to upskill mixed staff groups across many organisations. This should involve caregivers and staff with limited educational opportunities, while accommodating for different professional needs. Training should be integrated to service budgets, specifications and structures. Plain language summary: Staff who support refugee children without parents come from different backgrounds, and often have limited mental health knowledge and skills. To address this gap, a national programme was established for 17 organisations hosting accommodation centres across Greece. Selected professionals were upskilled as trainers to cascade knowledge to their staff group. Training was based on the understanding of the impact of trauma and children's cultural needs and was provided to interdisciplinary staff groups. In total, 199 staff attended pilot training. Experiences of the training were shared by a sub-group of 33 trained staff, nine managers and six trainers through focus group discussions. These were analysed through a qualitative thematic approach. Key findings included the relevance of new knowledge to children's needs and staff roles, training as a team, using learning methods based on real issues, and supports that should be put in place to ensure that benefits are maintained. Such a model of cascading knowledge and skills can be useful for large numbers of organisations and staff supporting refugee and other vulnerable children. Training should include staff such as caregivers, who may have had limited educational opportunities, while balancing between different staff roles. Training should be integral to all functions of accommodation centres. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recent changes to the law in England require all primary schools to teach Relationships Education and all secondary schools to teach Relationships and Sex Education (RSE). Our focus in this article is on the voices of teachers and other educational professionals in relation to this change. Discussion in three focus groups held with 16 educational professionals, indicated concerns regarding some of the challenges associated with the implementation of the new legal requirements, as well as recognising fresh opportunities afforded to teachers for engaging with children and young people. Through analysis, it was noted that participants considered how lessons on relationships and sex should cover LGBTQ+ (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer/questioning, others) issues, with strategies advanced for building bridges between schools and parents/communities. Our research indicates a difference between the importance of Relationships Education/RSE and the perceptions of those charged with teaching it, as well as the view that the laudable aims underpinning the new provisions in England will only be realised if appropriate support and training is given to teachers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Globally, child and youth mental health needs are largely unmet, especially in resource-constrained settings. Youth are uniquely placed to provide mental health support, but there is limited evidence on what their role should involve. The aim of this study was to establish how youth themselves conceptualized the peer support worker role. We captured the perspectives of 45 youth from Pakistan and South Africa. Focus group discussions were analyzed through a thematic codebook framework. Key findings indicated how youth can improve their mental health care, as well as those of their peers, by recognizing early signs of mental health concerns, developing adaptive coping mechanisms, strengthening social relationships, and mobilizing additional resources through advocacy and mediation. Peer support can be enhanced by skills such as lack of judgement, empathy, encouragement and good communication. Peer support workers can play an important role in promoting children’s mental health, particularly in resource-constrained settings. Such posts should be clearly defined, incorporated within existing service systems, and provided with adequate funding, training and supervision. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The digital divide is especially pertinent in Majority World Countries (MWCs), and this was exacerbated greatly by the pandemic. Tackling the digital divide underpins the work of Human-- Computer Interaction for Development (HCI4D) and remains an important global endeavour. Our project aimed to understand how children and young people (CYP) in MWC coped during the pandemic and how technology played a role. Voices of CYP were complemented by those of their parents and professionals with whom CYP interacted regularly. Our empirical study involved 73 CYP and 76 adults from Brazil, Kenya, Pakistan, South Africa, and Turkey. Qualitative data from diaries, drawings and focus groups were analysed thematically. Four major themes were identified -- 'access', 'usage', 'risk', and 'future Among others, some intriguing findings were that CYP acutely felt the peer pressure on ICT ownership and tended to direct frustration at parents, who grappled with their untenable roles as gatekeepers to digital worlds. Implications for addressing the digital divide include long-term strategies to improve infrastructures and mobilise community-based collaborative efforts and enhance digital literacy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There has been growing concern about rising physical inactivity levels in female adolescents, with schools taking some responsibility to address this. Programmes designed for and by girls are increasingly being used by developing or delivering a programme of change and consultation to improve physical activity, physical education, and sport in school. However, to build an understanding of the nuances of such interventions, and better appreciate any gendered benefits and challenges, girls' voices need to be heard. Based on data from 16 focus groups from 8 schools participating in a female-focused intervention trial ("Girls Active"), we explored adolescent girls' views of this type of intervention. We used reflexive organic thematic analysis to understand key issues. Four themes were developed: stereotypes; choice; empowerment and voice; and equality. Our feminist approach centralised adolescent girls' voices, thereby recognising that physical activity is rooted in patriarchal constructions that position girls as naturally uninterested in sport and activity. We suggest gender-focused interventions can actively address stereotypes by listening to girls. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Adolescents are spending significant time online. Consequently, concerns are consistently raised about potential negative impacts on their mental health. Potentially, these concerns minimise their autonomy and reify the construction of the vulnerable adolescent. Using template analysis, we explored adolescents' perspectives (N = 54) of the relationship between social media and mental health. We centrally considered the wide array of uses made of different social media by the participants, focusing on their understandings of the potentially positive effects these might have. Focus group discussions showed social media could be used to reduce stress, have value for social connectivity, were an important source of information about mental health, and provided a platform for peer-to-peer support. Our conclusion indicated adolescents are generally socially competent online and are often experimenting with their emergent sense of agency. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Drawing on integrated data from focus groups and diary entries, we explored the impact of the COVID‐19 pandemic on child well‐being for children from five Majority World Countries. We focus on the disruptions the pandemic caused, the adjustments made in response to these, and children's vision of a post‐pandemic world. Underlying children's experiences of loss, boredom and concerns about educational progress, was an awareness of systemic inequalities that disadvantaged them or others in their community. Findings have implications on capturing children's voices through introspective and dialogical approaches that transcend cultures and for the development of preventive and responsive interventions during crises. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Social media are integral in the lives of adolescents. Practitioners need to be able to assess risk, and social media are potentially a new dimension to consider. Adolescent voices and practitioner perspectives are central to understanding the relationship between social media and mental health, yet there is limited work that highlights their views. Aims: This paper aims to illuminate the perspectives of adolescents and practitioners about social media and mental health. Method: Eight focus groups, six with adolescents aged 11–18 years and two with mental health practitioners, were conducted. Ethical approval was provided. Discussions allowed for expression of experiences, views and opinions of the relationship between social media and mental health. Results: Participants discussed what might be thought of as the "good", the "bad" and the "ugly" side of social media, navigating the benefits of social media to well-being against possible negative impacts on adolescents. They differentiated personal use from third party attributions whereby they extolled the risk to adolescents outside of their personal group. Much of the negative rhetoric of social media was repeated by mental health practitioners, although there was some acknowledgement of potential benefit. Conclusions: Practitioners need to consider social media and its role in practice. When risk-assessing adolescents, it is arguably useful to include a social media dimension, without presuming the relationship will be negative. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The growing prevalence of adolescent mental disorders poses significant challenges for education and healthcare systems globally. Providers are therefore keen to identify effective ways of promoting positive mental health. This aim of this qualitative study was to explore perceptions that social media might be leveraged for the purposes of mental health promotion amongst adolescents aged between 11 and 18 years. Utilizing focus groups conducted with adolescents (N  = 54), educational professionals (N  = 16) and mental health practitioners (N  = 8). We explored their views about the value of social media for this purpose. Three themes were identified. First, social media appears to have potential to promote positive mental health. Second, adolescents frequently utilize social media and the internet to seek information about mental health. Finally, there are benefits and challenges to using social media in this way. We conclude that despite challenges of using social media and the risks, social media does offer a useful way of educating and reaching adolescents to promote mental wellbeing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite growing evidence of the effects of social media on the mental health of adolescents, there is still a dearth of empirical research into how adolescents themselves perceive social media, especially as knowledge resource, or how they draw upon the wider social and media discourses to express a viewpoint. Accordingly, this article contributes to this scarce literature. Six focus groups took place over 3 months with 54 adolescents aged 11–18 years, recruited from schools in Leicester and London (UK). Thematic analysis suggested that adolescents perceived social media as a threat to mental wellbeing and three themes were identified: (1) it was believed to cause mood and anxiety disorders for some adolescents, (2) it was viewed as a platform for cyberbullying and (3) the use of social media itself was often framed as a kind of ‘addiction’. Future research should focus on targeting and utilising social media for promoting mental wellbeing among adolescents and educating youth to manage the possible deleterious effects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background Despite growing evidence on the extent of child mental health problems in low-middle-income countries, the gap between need and provision remains high. Previous research in high income countries has demonstrated that evidence-based interventions can be scaled-up through community consultation, particularly by engaging key stakeholders. Aims This study aimed to explore community stakeholders' views on children's mental health needs and culturally acceptable interventions in Kenya, to ascertain how to integrate global service standards with culturally-specific expectations. Methods Focus groups were conducted with community stakeholders (seven young people 14-17 years, seven parents, nine teachers and 11 other professionals). These participants were recruited from an urban community of internally displaced and disadvantaged families in Nakuru. Results Results indicated that Kenya faced similar challenges in meeting mental health needs as in other countries, including economic constraints, limited knowledge, stigma and systemic issues, but that these were manifested in culturally specific ways that were linked to societal and professional's attitudes and local context. Conclusions Stakeholders' views are important in informing the planning, delivery and evaluation of interventions. However, for such interventions to be sustained, a clear therapeutic framework, evidence-base and sociocultural adaptation are likely to be important factors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The opposing positions of the social model of disability and the biomedical framework of impairment have created tensions regarding what constitutes 'normality'. In this article, we drew upon focus group data of parents, professionals, and people with autism, to explore how the dilemmatic tensions of normality and abnormality and of disability and ability were managed. Our findings illustrate how the boundaries of normality in relation to autism are blurred, as well as how the autistic identity is fluid. The members of the focus group invoked their epistemic rights to assert their positions and delicately considered the limitations of the rhetoric of cure. Our findings have implications for professionals working with families of children with autism, specifically as they aim to maintain a balance between providing sufficient support and not being intrusive, and we show how a medical sociology can facilitate an understanding of autism as a social category. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Child mental health interventions in Majority World Countries should be contextualized to local sociocultural needs. • Integration to existing psychosocial support can enhance uptake and maximize limited resources. • A Train-of-Trainer cascade approach has potential to widen reach and sustain impact. • Communities should be involved in the whole design and implementation process. This study evaluated the process of integrating child and youth mental health to existing psychosocial support in disadvantaged South African communities. Four child practitioners of the host organization attended a Train-of-Trainer programme. They subsequently co-produced an intervention informed by a service transformation framework along five service domains. Implementation involved 368 community participants. A sub-sample of 43 participants were engaged in focus groups on their experiences. Data were analysed through thematic analysis. Established themes were inter-linked and transcended the five intervention domains. Engagement and conceptualization of mental health through awareness were viewed as pre-requisites to application of new knowledge. This should be supported by systemic changes, predominantly community mobilization and integrated care. Knowledge transfer involving collaboration between services and communities would enable sustainability of impact. The findings led to the formulation of a Theory of Change. Integration of child and youth mental health through a cascade approach that actively involves communities in co-production and delivery can enhance service provision in resource-constrained Majority World contexts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]