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Using health and well-being data to support improvements in mental health in schools
Welcome to the SHINE February 2024 Newsletter
- Register for SHINE Webinar 11: Tues 19th Mar 2024 4-5pm "What Works in Responding to School Non-attendance: Examples from 2 Scottish local authorities"
- Programme and registration details: SHINE National Network Conference 2024
- SHINE presentation and new video at Research Data Scotland showcase event
- Notice about SHINE Mental Health survey access next term
- Invitation to participate in SHINE affiliated research projects
- Crowdsourcing for Adolescent Health (new)
- National evaluation of the Equally Safe at School programme
- Other events and research
opportunities for school communities:
- SOCITS: Socially Situated Systems approach to adolescent mental health
- Key stakeholders’ perceptions & attitudes of resistance training in Scottish secondary schools
- Understanding sleep and mood in autistic young people: Research opportunity for autistic young people based in or around Edinburgh
- Resources for parents & teachers of neurodivergent children
SHINE Webinar 11 - registration
"What Works in Responding to School Non-attendance: Examples from two Scottish local authorities"
Tuesday 19th March 2024 16.00-17.00pm
We are delighted to welcome Alison White (Senior Educational Psychologist EBSNA, Glasgow City Council) and Chris Atherton (Senior Educational Psychologist, East Renfrewshire Council) to share their knowledge and expertise in the 11th webinar in the SHINE series in March. Alison works on the REACH (Respond, Engage, Ask, Connect, Hope) Service which is a Glasgow-based service supporting children and young people who find it difficult to attend school for a range of different reasons or are at risk of disengaging from school. There will be a presentation showcasing work from two local authorities responding to school non-attendance followed by a Q&A session. We hope to see you there!
SHINE National Network Conference 2024
"Using HWB evidence in improvement planning for positive health outcomes for young people"
Thursday 2nd May 2024 10.00am -15.30pm at the Clarice Pears Building, School of Health and Wellbeing, 90 Byres Road, Glasgow G12 8TB
We look forward to hosting the 2024 in-person conference at the School of Health and Wellbeing. An opportunity to network with health researchers and fellow educational practitioners to support the use of health and wellbeing data for improvement planning in the school setting.
Invitations and registration details for school members and associates will be emailed directly to the school or Local Authority SHINE contact in early March. Any external delegates should email the Network Manager at Dawn.Haughton@glasgow.ac.uk
Draft programme below:
- Minimizing Young Children’s Anxiety through Schools - Dr Tessa Reardon, Research Fellow, Jesus’ College, Oxford University
Adolescent health and wellbeing: how are Scotland’s young people doing? Findings from the 2022 HBSC Scotland and International reports- The Health Behaviour in School-aged Children study team, University of Glasgow
School & research collaboration case study 1: How successful school/research collaborations inform the whole-school improvement plan - a school case study and findings from the Equally Safe at School study Professor Kirstin Mitchell, University of Glasgow and school tbc
Making sense of big data in the school setting - an interactive workshop in groups focusing on how research expertise can inform the improvement planning process in schools. SHINE team, University of Glasgow and Generation Scotland, University of Edinburgh
School case study 2: A whole-school approach to working with the SHINE mental health data reports DHT and young people, Bishopbriggs Academy, East Dunbartonshire
Lightening Research Carousel : short, snappy updates to 4 research projects, findings and next steps for schools to use the methods, get involved or
SOCITS (a Socially Situated Systems approach to adolescent mental health) Dr Mark McCann University of Glasgow
Crowdsourcing for Adolescent Health Dr Andrew Williams, University of Edinburgh
Sharing practice across the network on "Using HWB evidence in improvement planning for positive health outcomes for young people". Interactive delegate session in groups
Back by popular request, lunch and all catering throughout the day will be provided by REGIS Banqueting. There will be no parallel sessions in this year's programme.
We hope to see you there!
SHINE presentation at research data Scotland showcase event
New video from SHINE launched at the Research Data Scotland showcase event on 20th Feb 2024
SHINE created a short video explaining the process and benefit of data linkage research, based on consultation work with school-aged children, parents, and teaching staff. The video was designed to explain data linkage in an accessible manner to allow pupils and parents to make an informed decision about consenting to their data being used for this type of research. Data linkage research is when two separate sources of data about the same person are combined to create a new, enhanced dataset. SHINE is exploring the potential to introduce optional consent for data linkage to the SHINE mental health survey and the creation of this video was the first step in engaging with stakeholder views.
SHINE received funding from DATAMIND UK and Research Data Scotland (RDS) to carry out this work and presented at the RDS public engagement showcase event on the 20th of February. The team were able to have some insightful discussions with attendees around the future of data-linkage in the school setting and around the facilitators and barriers to this kind of work. If you would like to hear more about this work, please contact: mary.wilson@glasgow.ac.uk.
Notice for members about schools' access to the SHINE mental health survey next term
Please note that we are currently upgrading the system which runs the SHINE Mental Health survey. The new system will be ready in September 2024. In the meantime, we will operate restricted access to the survey in March and the summer term 2024 due to the upgrades. If you had planned to use the survey in the summer term, please contact the Network Manager directly by email at Dawn.Haughton@glasgow.ac.uk to discuss the possibilities and timing.
Invitation to participate in SHINE affiliated research projects
Trial a new intervention, evaluate a programme or test a new method of collecting data. Work with researchers in your school to find solutions to YP HWB challenges.
Crowdsourcing for Adolescent Health : Using app technology to connect young people with their health data (supporting research and improvement planning) – citizen science and crowdsourcing.
Research is needed to help us understand what behaviours change our health for better or worse, and what influences those behaviours. Some behaviours are easier to measure, e.g. technology in our phones can count how many steps we do each day. However, other behaviours are more difficult to measure, they might be embarrassing or harder for people to explain because they relate to feelings.
Why might young people provide health data for research?
This research project from the University of Edinburgh is based around the idea that providing data for research is a behaviour. Therefore, we need to learn what would encourage young people to provide health data. We are testing two approaches which we think might encourage data collection through an app:
Citizen science = members of the public become scientists by helping to collect and make sense of data. Eg. the RSPB Big Garden Birdwatch - people submit data about the birds they see in their garden during 1 week to help us understand bird populations.
Crowdsourcing = when lots of people submit information to help each other solve a problem or raise awareness of an issue. Eg. Lego have a platform for people to suggest new kits, other people then vote on which kits should be produced.
Within the new crowdsourcing app we want to:
- make sure the data collected are useful to young people.
- take a crowdsourcing approach to sharing information about what affects young people’s health, to help bring about improvements.
How can young people get involved?
In February/March 2024, you could:
- Take part in a research visit and workshop in your school to explore with other young people how citizen science and crowdsourcing might work in the app (up to 2 hours)
- Share your ideas with experts in health and design during the workshop
In Autumn 2024 you could:
- Trial the first working version of the app
- Take part with your school or as part of a project to test the developed app
For further information about how to sign up, contact Dawn.Haughton@glasgow.ac.uk
If you would like to discuss this opportunity, please contact the Principal Investigator: kirstin.mitchell@glasgow.ac.uk . Kirstin will be delighted to walk you through what's involved for schools.
Invitation to join the National Evaluation of the Equally Safe at School (ESAS) programme in secondary schools.
Many Scottish schools are dealing with the fall-out from misogynistic influencers such as Andrew Tate, or are struggling with an increase in disclosures of sexual harassment. ESAS is designed to help schools build a positive culture in which staff and students work together on these issues. Designed by Rape Crisis it takes a whole school approach, strongly complements MVP, and is free to schools. ESAS involves a self-assessment, staff training, a student-led action group and curriculum and policy review.
The national evaluation is being run by a research team at the University of Glasgow. Schools across Scotland have been joining up but there are still a few spaces left. The benefit of being part of the national evaluation includes that the research team at University of Glasgow will collect the student self-assessment data on your behalf; they will support you in getting started and staying involved in ESAS and you'll be part of a larger cohort of schools undertaking ESAS. For more information click here.
Other research events and opportunities for school communities
Who, what, where & why of stress and loneliness in schools. Invitation to join SOCITS.
The SOCITS project (a Socially Situated Systems approach to adolescent mental health) aims to find out which places, interactions and social situations in school are associated with stress, loneliness, and poor mental health. This information can inform whole school approaches to mental health.
Using novel survey measures, SOCITS will ask questions such as: Which situations in school cause the most loneliness? Do certain groups of students find specific situations more or less stressful? Do peer groups amplify or reduce exam stress?
Participating schools invite all students from the same year group (e.g. all S1, S3 or S6) to fill in an online survey in a single period. Two follow up surveys will explore the causes of stress and loneliness in more detail as well as looking at changes in mental health.
SOCITS schools will receive individual reports, and the SOCITS team can facilitate staff-student workshops in your school to discuss study findings and inform health improvement plans.
Key stakeholders' perceptions and attitudes of resistance training in Scottish Secondary schools. Registrations of interest in this project are welcomed from secondary schools in Glasgow, South Lanarkshire, Stirling and West Lothian Councils, where permissions have been granted by the Local Authority for school participation. Ethical approval has been granted by the Medical and Veterinary, Life Sciences College Ethics Committee at the University of Glasgow. Register interest at 2832215H@student.gla.ac.uk with David Hartley.
Understanding sleep and mood in autistic young people: Research opportunity for autistic young people based in or around Edinburgh
What is the goal of this study? Autistic young people often struggle with poor sleep and mental health, affecting their daily lives at home and in school. Our goal is to better understand the connection between sleep and mood in autistic young people, and to identify factors influencing these issues.
Who can participate? Autistic young people (ages 12-18) who are currently struggling with sleep and are willing to visit the University of Edinburgh with a parent, or willing to have a researcher from Edinburgh to visit their house.
What is involved?
- Young people will have their sleep and mood measured at home for two weeks.
- Sleep will be measured using a radar-based bedside sensor.
- Mood will be measured with a smartphone app.
What are the benefits for young people who take part?
- Young people will receive a 2-week personal sleep report and have the chance to discuss it with a researcher – offering an opportunity to better understand their own sleep.
- They will also receive gift vouchers worth £60 as a thank you for their time.
- The findings from this study will be written up in leaflets and shared with young people who take part.
Community involvement : The study was designed with input from autistic people with lived experience of sleep problems, and care was taken to maximise accessibility for autistic participants.
Interested? : Young people who are interested or their parents can sign up for the study using this link. You can also help us spread the word by pinning up this flyer on school noticeboards or circulating on mailing lists.
Want more info? : View this doc for more information about what would be involved, or contact the lead researcher on the study (details below).
Reesha Zahir reesha.zahir@ed.ac.uk 07944748692
Resources for parents and teachers of neurodivergent children
Seeking Teenage Volunteers: How can we support your thinking skills?
Over the last few years EPIC Think Learn (University of Edinburgh) have developed a set of resources for parents and teachers of children with neurodevelopmental conditions. [Download our free booklets from https://epic-information.com/]
These resources focus on Executive functions such as attention, inhibition memory, planning and self-regulation.
We are now looking to expand our resources to 11-16 year olds [neurodivergent, neurotypical and those with mental health conditions such as depression] , so we need some help! Over the next few months. we will be looking for young people to:
- Tell us what games, activities, video styles etc you like, so we can build these into the resource.
- Give us feedback on paper, video and app based 'demo' versions.
Participants can sign-up as an individual or as a group. Most of the activities will be online (by email, video call, or online form),
but in-person visits could be arranged for groups in Edinburgh and the surrounding areas. Although the resources will be aimed at 11-16 year olds, we are also happy to talk to 16-22 year olds, who may be able to reflect back on their experiences.
Small value gift vouchers will be offered to individuals who take part, and other arrangements can be made for group participation.
If you would like to find out more, please email iona.beange@ed.ac.uk
NB: This is an engagement / user-input activity and is not part of a formal research project.
All the best,
The SHINE Team
Dawn Haughton
Schools Health and Wellbeing Improvement Research Network (SHINE) Manager
E-mail: Dawn.Haughton@glasgow.ac.uk
Web: www.gla.ac.uk/shine
Twitter: @ScotlandSHINE
