Co-production: Levels, Benefits, and Challenges

• Co-production involves different levels and types of involvement, offers numerous benefits, requires scaling strategies, and poses specific challenges.

Levels & Types of Involvement

• Engagement involves talks, events, and exhibitions.
• Consultations utilize advisory groups for feedback.
• Involvement includes co-interviewers participating in the research process.
• Co-production entails equal partnership in all aspects from the outset, emphasizing shared power.
• These approaches are not mutually exclusive and often blend together.
• A multi-layered approach touching on all levels of involvement is often the most effective.
• Each approach has its limitations.
• The focus is on involving young people (YP) in the design and delivery of research, not just as participants.

Jargon & Acronyms

• PPIE stands for public and patient involvement and engagement.
• YPAG refers to young persons advisory group.
• LEAB means lived experience advisory board.
• LEAP is a lived experience advisory panel.
• Peer Researcher is a researcher with lived experience.
• Co-researcher is a young person employed as a member of the research team.

Why Involve Young People?

• Involving YP improves the quality of research with scientific backing.
• Funding often mandates involvement in clinical services.
• It is ethically sound involving YP when taxpayer money is used for YP-related research.
• Including YP ensures real-world impact and relevance, enhancing the trustworthiness of findings for policy changes and improving young lives.

Examples of Co-Production

• The STEP study demonstrates qualitative research.
• Youth advisory groups exist.
• Participatory action leads to recommendations for trans-inclusive healthcare.
• Qualitative studies help researchers understand in-depth experiences.
• Quantitative studies may utilize youth advisory groups throughout the research process.

Scaling Up Youth Involvement

• Large-scale studies can involve youth through social media, targeting schools, and public campaigns to invite YP to join panels.
• Co-writing funding applications, information sheets, measures, research, and dissemination materials ensures youth involvement.
• Incentives like cash can be provided, though this comes with challenges.

REACH: A Live Example

• The study addresses the problem of internalizing versus externalizing behaviors in boys and girls, particularly in the context of gender inequality in adolescent mental health.
• Gender inequalities in mental health, such as rates of depression, anxiety, and self-harm, have persisted since 1958.
• The reasons for gender inequalities in mental health are not well understood in young people.
• Mental health problems are becoming more common, and the gap between boys and girls is widening.
• A larger equality gap correlates with worse mental health inequality.

Factors Limiting Understanding of Mental Health

• Essentialist thinking.
• Lack of interdisciplinarity.
• Data is collected too infrequently.
• A lack of youth voice.

REACH Solution

• Community co-production team and multi-layer involvement to share power.
• Recurring themes related to youth perspectives include double standards, societal expectations, sexual harassment, safety concerns related to figures like Andrew Tate, and puberty experiences.
• Gender inequalities emerge in adolescence.

Causes of Gender Inequality/Sexism

• Pay gap.
• Potential brain structure differences.
• Safety issues like sexual harassment.

Funding Bid

• A "Wellcome" study aims for equal power, positioning young people as equal partners.