Creating safe spaces in research
As researchers, it is imperative that we provide safe spaces for young people to participate in research. This is particularly relevant to the field of mental health research, where participants may be asked to engage in activities that require them to discuss or reflect on experiences of poor mental health. Such activities can be upsetting for participants and so it is important to consider what actions can be taken to best reduce risks of negative experience for participants. This will also lead to improved research data quality.
Currently, there is limited information to inform the creation of safe spaces for young people participating in research. We felt that there was a need to address this gap through the creation of a new checklist resource that was co-developed with young people.
To facilitate this, we worked with the Institute for Mental Health’s Youth Advisory Group (IMH YAG), based at the University of Birmingham. The IMH YAG is made up of young people aged 18-25 with lived experience of mental health difficulty or experience of supporting a young person with lived experience of mental health difficulty.
We identified three key themes: confidentiality and consent, fostering trust and feeling safe. Our checklist centres around how to best accommodate these needs and we have presented practical tips on how this can be addressed at three different stages of research participation: before, during and after.
We hope that this checklist will support researchers to consider what steps can be taken to ensure that children and young people participate in research that makes them feel safe and empowered.</p
