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Mobile devices offer a scalable opportunity to collect longitudinal data that facilitate advances in mental health treatment to address the burden of mental health conditions in young people. Sharing these data with the research community is critical to gaining maximal value from rich data of this nature. However, the highly personal nature of the data necessitates understanding the conditions under which young people are willing to share them. To answer this question, we developed the MindKind Study, a multinational, mixed methods study that solicits young people's preferences for how their data are governed and quantifies potential participants' willingness to join under different conditions. We employed a community-based participatory approach, involving young people as stakeholders and co-researchers. At sites in India, South Africa, and the UK, we enrolled 3575 participants ages 16-24 in the mobile app-mediated quantitative study and 143 participants in the public deliberation-based qualitative study. We found that while youth participants have strong preferences for data governance, these preferences did not translate into (un)willingness to join the smartphone-based study. Participants grappled with the risks and benefits of participation as well as their desire that the "right people" access their data. Throughout the study, we recognized young people's commitment to finding solutions and co-producing research architectures to allow for more open sharing of mental health data to accelerate and derive maximal benefit from research.

Background: Despite a growing body of literature investigating the impact of disabilities on family relationships, the experiences of ethnic minorities remain underexplored. Method: Semi-structured online interviews were conducted with eight young people (aged 18-28 years) with disabled sibling(s) within an immigrant family to understand how this affects their wellbeing and relationships, identify sources of support and strain, and explore the significance of balancing different cultural expectations. We used reflexive thematic analysis to analyse the transcribed data. Results: Analysis identified three themes: constant challenges, negative consequences on self and relationships, and coping strategies to overcome difficulties. Despite maintaining positive relationships with their siblings, challenges took a serious toll on young people's psychological wellbeing and relationships. Participants used various coping strategies but desired culturally appropriate extra-familial support. constant challenges, negative consequences on self and relationships, and coping strategies to overcome difficulties. Conclusions: This study has highlighted the urgent requirement for policy makers to investigate how to better support young carers from diverse backgrounds.

Introduction: Engaging youth in mental health research and intervention design has the potential to improve their relevance and effectiveness. Frameworks like Roger Hart's ladder of participation, Shier's pathways to participation and Lundy's voice and influence model aim to balance power between youth and adults. Hart's Ladder, specifically, is underutilized in global mental health research, presenting new opportunities to examine power dynamics across various contexts. Drawing on Hart's ladder, our study examined youth engagement in mental health research across high‐ and middle‐income countries using Internet‐based technologies, evaluating youth involvement in decision‐making and presenting research stages that illustrate these engagements. Methods: We conducted a directed content analysis of youth engagement in the study using primary data from project documents, weekly AirTable updates and discussions and interviews with youth and the research consortium. Using Hart's Ladder as a framework, we describe youth engagement along rungs throughout different research stages: cross‐cutting research process, onboarding, formative research and quantitative and qualitative study designs. Results: Youth engagement in the MindKind study fluctuated between Rung 4 ('Assign, but informed') and Rung 7 ('Youth initiated and directed') on Hart's Ladder. Engagement was minimal in the early project stages as project structures and goals were defined, with some youth feeling that their experiences were underutilized and many decisions being adult‐led. Communication challenges and structural constraints, like tight timelines and limited budget, hindered youth engagement in highest ladder rungs. Despite these obstacles, youth engagement increased, particularly in developing recruitment strategies and in shaping data governance models and the qualitative study design. Youth helped refine research tools and protocols, resulting in moderate to substantial engagement in the later research stages. Conclusion: Our findings emphasize the value of youth–adult partnerships, which offer promise in amplifying voices and nurturing skills, leadership and inclusiveness of young people. Youth engagement in project decision‐making progressed from lower to higher rungs on Hart's Ladder over time; however, this was not linear. Effective youth engagement requires dynamic strategies, transparent communication and mutual respect, shaping outcomes that authentically reflect diverse perspectives and mental health experiences. Patient or Public Contribution: There was substantial patient and public involvement in this study. This paper reports findings on youth engagement conducted with 35 young people from India, South Africa and the United Kingdom, all of whom had lived experience of mental health challenges. Youth engagement in the MindKind study was coordinated and led by three professional youth advisors (PYAs) in these contexts, who were also young people with lived experience of mental health challenges. Each of the three study sites embedded a full‐time, community‐based PYA within their study team to inform all aspects of the research project, including the development of informational materials and the facilitation of Young People's Advisory Group (YPAG) sessions referenced in this paper. Each PYA also consulted with a site‐specific YPAG that met bi‐monthly throughout the project, shaping the formation of study materials and serving as a test group in both the quantitative and qualitative studies. Youth participants in this study also contributed extensively, engaging in data collection and manuscript writing. The following youth advisory panels members (J.B., L.B., D.O.J., M.V.) and all PYAs (E.B., S.R., R.S.) in the MindKind study contributed to the writing of this manuscript and are acknowledged as co‐authors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The COVID-19 pandemic brought abrupt changes and disruption to the lives of children and young people. This qualitative study used semi-structured interviews to explore how participants navigated national lockdowns (including school closures), social restrictions, and the reintegration back into pre-pandemic routines. Twenty children, young people and parents were purposively sampled from the Mental Health of Children and Young People's Survey, 2020. We identified three major themes through thematic analysis, with participants discussing (1) learning experiences, (2) emotions and coping, and (3) decompression and discovery. Experiences during the pandemic were highly variable. Participants emphasised the importance of social and familial connections, access to engaging learning environments, and structure/routine in promoting health and well-being. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: School‐based mental health literacy interventions aim to prevent mental disorders and promote mental wellbeing through improving the knowledge and understanding of mental health, mental disorders, and reducing stigma. Evidence suggests that good mental health literacy helps young people recognise mental health difficulties in themselves and in others, and seek help for mental health problems. Improved help‐seeking can allow for early intervention, which prevents the progression of mental disorders and ultimately reduces the burden of mental disorders. The aim of this review is to identify and synthesise evidence on the effectiveness of school‐based mental health literacy interventions in improving help‐seeking outcomes. Methods: We searched MEDLINE, Embase, PsycINFO, ERIC, Child Development and Adolescent Studies, British Education Index and ASSIA (June 2020). Additional searches were conducted a year later to identify any new publications (June 2021). We included randomised controlled trials (RCTs) assessing the effectiveness or cost‐effectiveness of school‐based interventions to improve help‐seeking outcomes for children and young people aged 4–18 years. Included studies were critically appraised. Results: We identified 11 studies investigating help‐seeking outcomes of school‐based mental health literacy interventions including a total of 7066 participants from 66 secondary schools. Overall, there is no strong evidence for the effectiveness of school‐based mental health literacy interventions in improving help‐seeking outcomes, including general attitudes towards help‐seeking, personal intentions to seek help, knowledge of when and how to seek help for mental disorders, confidence to seek help, and actual help‐seeking behaviours. None of the studies investigated the cost‐effectiveness of the interventions. Conclusion: The lack of standardised measures with established reliability and validity for help‐seeking outcomes, and the incomprehensive consideration of the multi‐faceted concepts of MH literacy and MH stigma have contributed to the scarcity of evidence for the effectiveness. Future research should focus on developing standardised measurement tools and including economic evaluations to understand pragmatic and financial aspects of school‐based mental health literacy interventions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The steadily increasing prevalence of mental disorders in children and adolescents presents itself as a public health challenge, especially given the health, social and economic burden of mental disorders. School‐based interventions aimed at improving mental health literacy and reducing mental health stigma have the potential to prevent mental disorders and promote mental well‐being, thus reducing the burden of mental disorders. This review identified and synthesised evidence on the effectiveness of school‐based interventions designed to improve mental health literacy and reduce mental health stigma. Methods: Electronic bibliographic databases including MEDLINE, Embase, PsycINFO, Education Resources Information Center (ERIC), Child Development and Adolescent Studies, British Education Index and Applied Social Sciences Index and Abstracts (ASSIA) were searched. Randomised controlled trials (RCTs) were included if they assessed the effectiveness or cost‐effectiveness of school‐based intervention aimed at improving mental health literacy and reducing mental health stigma for children and young people aged 4–18 years. Quality of studies was appraised using the EPHPP tool. A numerical summary and a narrative description of the findings in relation to the research questions were synthesised. This systematic review was registered with PROSPERO (CRD42020191265). Results: We identified 21 studies describing 20 unique school‐based mental health interventions. Overall, there is moderate evidence suggesting that school‐based mental health interventions can be effective in improving mental health literacy and reducing mental health stigma defined as attitudes and beliefs regarding mental disorders. However, there is less evidence for their long‐term effectiveness, as most studies did not include follow‐ups. Conclusions: Despite exclusively including studies with randomised designs, intervention and methodological heterogeneity poses uncertainties to any conclusions made. Future research should focus on resolving methodological issues concerning how outcomes are assessed and include process evaluations to better inform the design of an intervention in term of its delivery and implementation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: This scoping review aimed to overview studies that used administrative data linkage in the context of child maltreatment to improve our understanding of the value that data linkage may confer for policy, practice, and research. Methods: We searched MEDLINE, Embase, PsycINFO, CINAHL, and ERIC electronic databases in June 2019 and May 2020 for studies that linked two or more datasets (at least one of which was administrative in nature) to study child maltreatment. We report findings with numerical and narrative summary. Results: We included 121 studies, mainly from the United States or Australia and published in the past decade. Data came primarily from social services and health sectors, and linkage processes and data quality were often not described in sufficient detail to align with current reporting guidelines. Most studies were descriptive in nature and research questions addressed fell under eight themes: descriptive epidemiology, risk factors, outcomes, intergenerational transmission, predictive modelling, intervention/service evaluation, multi-sector involvement, and methodological considerations/advancements. Conclusions: Included studies demonstrated the wide variety of ways in which data linkage can contribute to the public health response to child maltreatment. However, how research using linked data can be translated into effective service development and monitoring, or targeting of interventions, is underexplored in terms of privacy protection, ethics and governance, data quality, and evidence of effectiveness. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background COVID-19 lockdown measures may have led to more, and increasingly severe, domestic abuse. This study examines police referrals to a specialist domestic abuse service in Wales, UK before and during the first lockdown. Methods Routine data relating to 2292 police referrals for female adult victim-survivors from December 2019 until July 2020 were analysed and presented in the form of descriptive statistics to monitor changes in referral rates and the profile of those referrals. Results There was little increase in the overall volume of police referrals during lockdown, but the proportion assessed as high risk increased, and children became the primary source of third-party referrals, with a higher proportion of reports made by other third parties as restrictions eased. Police reports for cases of Child/Adolescent to Parent Violence (C/APV) occurred almost exclusively during lockdown. Conclusions The increase in risk level despite less clear increase in volume may suggest unmet need, with victims less likely to seek help during lockdown other than for more severe instances. Increased reports by children suggest increased exposure of children to domestic abuse during school closure. Unmet need for women and children may have been made visible to services, and acquaintances, as measures began to ease. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Self‐harm among young people is a major public health concern, and whilst schools are well placed to identify and intervene with students who self‐harm, the literature shows that school staff lack training and confidence in this area. This systematic review investigated the effectiveness, feasibility and acceptability of training interventions and support tools intended to equip school staff with skills and knowledge to adequately respond to students' disclosure of self‐harm. Method: References for this review were identified through systematic searches of Medline, Embase, PsycINFO, Child Development & Adolescent Studies, ERIC, ASSIA and British Education Index on with search terms 'self‐harm', 'training', 'school staff' and 'young people'. Thematic synthesis was used to analyse qualitative data. Results: We found that all eight included studies evaluated interventions/tools that were highly effective in terms of an increase in knowledge, skills and confidence of staff in responding to self‐harming youth. Acceptability was good with high levels of satisfaction and perceived benefit by staff, though data on feasibility of the interventions were lacking. Limitations of the studies included a paucity of follow‐up data, and lack of data relating to student outcomes and actual changes in staff practice in schools. Conclusions: The findings from this review indicate that more evidence is needed to determine the effectiveness, acceptability and feasibility of interventions/tools for school staff addressing self‐harm. Further studies should focus on maintaining knowledge, confidence and comfort levels over time, and determine the feasibility of interventions/tools with different staff cohorts and across school settings, as well as address outcomes for students. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: The COVID-19 pandemic has impacted community mental health, but the effect on psychiatric admissions is unknown. We investigated factors contributing to acute psychiatric admissions, and whether this changed during the first UK lockdown. Method: A retrospective case-note review study with an exploratory mixedmethods design to examine factors for psychiatric admissions following the first UK 2020 lockdown compared to the same time periods in 2019 and 2018. Results:Themes of psychopathology, risk, social stressors, community treatment issues, and physical health concerns were generated. The mean number of codes per case was 6.19 (s. d. = 2.43), with a mean number of categories per case of 3.73, (s. d. = 0.98). Changes in routines and isolation were common factors in the study year; accommodation and substance abuse were more prominent in the control year. Relationship stressors featured strongly in both groups. There were significantly more women (X2(1, N = 98) = 20.80, p < 0.00001) and older adults (X2(1, N = 98) = 8.61, p = 0.0033) in the study group than the control. Single people, compared to those in a relationship (X2(1, N = 45) = 4.46, p = 0.035), and people with affective disorders compared to psychotic disorders ((X2(1, N = 28) = 5.19, p = 0.023), were more likely to have a COVID-19 related admission factor. Conclusions: Early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic amplified pre-existing psychosocial vulnerabilities with a disproportionate psychiatric admissions impact on the mental health of women, older adults and those with affective disorders. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Schools are well-placed to offer support to young people who self-harm. However, research shows that pupils who disclose self-harm behaviour to school staff are often faced with negative reactions and unhelpful responses. There is a clear need for an increased level of knowledge and understanding for staff to respond more appropriately. This study explored the expectations of young people and the needs of staff when responding to self-harm. Twenty semi-structured interviews were conducted with nine young people and 11 school staff. Interviews were analysed using reflexive thematic analysis.Three key themes were identified: (1) Lack of knowledge and confidence to appropriately respond to self-harm (2) Systemic barriers and facilitators to help-seeking in schools and (3) Positive relationships facilitate help-seeking.Young people and staff believe there is an unmet need for training to help staff confidently address self-harm. Future research should involve stakeholders to develop interventions to improve the school response to self-harm. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]