Perspectives on the Implementation of the CESSDA Metadata Model

CESSDA Metadata Standards Portfolio, outcome of CESSDA Metadata Management (CMM) Project, includes core metadata model and controlled vocabularies (CV) for relevant metadata fields. The Portfolio was designed to ensure compliance with Data Documentation Initiative (DDI). We present the results of the concluding task of Phase 1 of the CMM project, where we analysed the impact of the proposed Portfolio solution and identified the challenges for its implementation. 13 CEESDA members and 2 additional stakeholders participated in the survey and provided feedback on the proposed model. We evaluated the Mandatory elements of the Portfolio, applied the (adjusted) System Usability Scale (SUS) and investigated the metadata availability. We were interested in how SPs use DDI, especially to what extent they already provide metadata and whether they would be able to adapt the existing solutions to the one proposed in the model. Moreover, we asked SPs about their usage of CV (DDI and ISO). Based on the results we gathered, we also drew some comparisons between Service Providers (SP) at different stages of development. Our presentation concludes with discussing further work in the following Phase 2, where we plan to upgrade our evaluation survey. Moreover, a special focus will be given to exploring the Metadata Model usage possibilities in other organizations apart from CEESDA SP (e.g. domain stakeholders and related organizations)

Recruitment of adolescent young carers to a psychosocial support intervention study in six European countries: lessons learned from the ME-WE project

Young carers provide a substantial amount of care to family members and support to friends, yet their situation has not been actively addressed in research and policy in many European countries or indeed globally. Awareness of their situation by professionals and among children and young carers themselves remains low overall. Thus, young carers remain a largely hidden group within society. This study reports and analyses the recruitment process in a multi-centre intervention study offering psychosocial support to adolescent young carers (AYCs) aged 15–17 years. A cluster-randomised controlled trial was designed, with recruitment taking place in Italy, the Netherlands, Slovenia, Sweden, Switzerland and the United Kingdom exploiting various channels, including partnerships with schools, health and social services and carers organisations. In total, 478 AYCs were recruited and, after screening failures, withdrawals and initial dropouts, 217 were enrolled and started the intervention. Challenges encountered in reaching, recruiting and retaining AYCs included low levels of awareness among AYCs, a low willingness to participate in study activities, uncertainty about the prevalence of AYCs, a limited school capacity to support the recruitment; COVID-19 spreading in 2020–2021 and related restrictions. Based on this experience, recommendations are put forward for how to better engage AYCs in research

Research and Innovation for and with Adolescent Young Carers to Influence Policy and Practice—The European Union Funded “ME-WE” Project

Young carers are children and adolescents who provide care to other family members or friends, taking over responsibilities that are usually associated with adulthood. There is emerging but still scarce knowledge worldwide about the phenomenon of young carers and the impact of a caring role on their health, social and personal development spheres. This paper provides an overview of the main results from the ME-WE project, which is the first European research and innovation project dedicated to adolescent young carers (AYCs) (15–17 years). The project methods relied on three main activities: (1) a systematization of knowledge (by means of a survey to AYCs, country case studies, Delphi study, literature review); (2) the co-design, implementation and evaluation of a primary prevention intervention addressing AYCs’ mental health (by means of Blended Learning Networks and a clinical trial in six European countries); (3) the implementation of knowledge translation actions for dissemination, awareness, advocacy and lobbying (by means of national and international stakeholder networks, as well as traditional and new media). Project results substantially contributed to a better understanding of AYCs’ conditions, needs and preferences, defined tailored support intervention (resilient to COVID-19 related restrictions), and significant improvements in national and European policies for AYCs

Research and innovation for and with adolescent young carers to influence policy and practice

Young carers are children and adolescents who provide care to other family members or friends, taking over responsibilities that are usually associated with adulthood. There is emerging but still scarce knowledge worldwide about the phenomenon of young carers and the impact of a caring role on their health, social and personal development spheres. This paper provides an overview of the main results from the ME-WE project, which is the first European research and innovation project dedicated to adolescent young carers (AYCs) (15–17 years). The project methods relied on three main activities: (1) a systematization of knowledge (by means of a survey to AYCs, country case studies, Delphi study, literature review)(2) the co-design, implementation and evaluation of a primary prevention intervention addressing AYCs’ mental health (by means of Blended Learning Networks and a clinical trial in six European countries)(3) the implementation of knowledge translation actions for dissemination, awareness, advocacy and lobbying (by means of national and international stakeholder networks, as well as traditional and new media). Project results substantially contributed to a better understanding of AYCs’ conditions, needs and preferences, defined tailored support intervention (resilient to COVID-19 related restrictions), and significant improvements in national and European policies for AYCs

In Search of Motivation for the Business Survey Response Task

Increasing reluctance of businesses to participate in surveys often leads to declining or low response rates, poor data quality and burden complaints, and suggests that a driving force, that is, the motivation for participation and accurate and timely response, is insufficient or lacking. Inspiration for ways to remedy this situation has already been sought in the psychological theory of self-determination; previous research has favored enhancement of intrinsic motivation compared to extrinsic motivation. Traditionally however, enhancing extrinsic motivation has been pervasive in business surveys. We therefore review this theory in the context of business surveys using empirical data from the Netherlands and Slovenia, and suggest that extrinsic motivation calls for at least as much attention as intrinsic motivation, that other sources of motivation may be relevant besides those stemming from the three fundamental psychological needs (competence, autonomy and relatedness), and that other approaches may have the potential to better explain some aspects of motivation in business surveys (e.g., implicit motives). We conclude with suggestions that survey organizations can consider when attempting to improve business survey response behavior

Promoting mental health and well‐being among adolescent young carers in Europe : a randomized controlled trial protocol

It is estimated that 4–8% of youth in Europe carry out substantial care for a familymember or significant other. To prevent adverse psychosocial outcomes in young carers (YCs),primary prevention resilience building interventions have been recommended. We describe thestudy protocol of an international randomized controlled trial (RCT) of an innovative group interventiondesigned to promote the mental health and well‐being of adolescent YCs (AYCs) aged15–17. The RCT will be conducted in six European countries in the context of the Horizon 2020European funded research and innovation project “Psychosocial support for promoting mentalhealth and well‐being among adolescent young caregivers in Europe” (“ME‐WE”). The ME‐WEintervention is based on Hayes and Ciarrochi’s psychoeducational model for adolescents and willconsist of seven 2‐h sessions in a group format, aimed to help AYCs build psychological flexibilityand live according to their values. The control group will be a waitlist. Primary and secondaryoutcomes and control variables will be measured at baseline (T0), post‐intervention (T1) and 3months follow‐up (T2). The COVID‐19 pandemic has made amendments necessary to the originalstudy protocol methodology, which we describe in detail. This study will contribute to building anevidence‐based manualized program that educators and health and social care professionals canuse to support AYCs in their transition to adulthood. From a research perspective, the outcomes ofthis study will contribute to evidence‐based practices in primary prevention of psychosocial difficultiesin AYCs and will gather novel knowledge on the effectiveness of Hayes and Ciarrochi’smodel for use with middle adolescents with caring responsibilities. The trial has been preregistered (registration number: NCT04114864)

Promoting mental health and well-being among adolescent young carers in Europe

It is estimated that 4–8% of youth in Europe carry out substantial care for a family member or significant other. To prevent adverse psychosocial outcomes in young carers (YCs), primary prevention resilience building interventions have been recommended. We describe the study protocol of an international randomized controlled trial (RCT) of an innovative group intervention designed to promote the mental health and well-being of adolescent YCs (AYCs) aged 15–17. The RCT will be conducted in six European countries in the context of the Horizon 2020 European funded research and innovation project “Psychosocial support for promoting mental health and well-being among adolescent young caregivers in Europe” (“ME-WE”). The ME-WE intervention is based on Hayes and Ciarrochi’s psychoeducational model for adolescents and will consist of seven 2-h sessions in a group format, aimed to help AYCs build psychological flexibility and live according to their values. The control group will be a waitlist. Primary and secondary outcomes and control variables will be measured at baseline (T0), post-intervention (T1) and 3 months follow-up (T2). The COVID-19 pandemic has made amendments necessary to the original study protocol methodology, which we describe in detail. This study will contribute to building an evidence-based manualized program that educators and health and social care professionals can use to support AYCs in their transition to adulthood. From a research perspective, the outcomes of this study will contribute to evidence-based practices in primary prevention of psychosocial difficulties in AYCs and will gather novel knowledge on the effectiveness of Hayes and Ciarrochi’s model for use with middle adolescents with caring responsibilities. The trial has been preregistered (registration number: NCT04114864)