Using health and well-being data to support improvements in mental health in schools 

Welcome to the SHINE August 2022 Newsletter

Dear All,

Welcome back! We hope you had a relaxing and enjoyable summer break.  For 2022-2023, we have moved to 2 versions of the monthly newsletter. School members will receive a version with direct hyperlinks to new SHINE resources. This newsletter will include:

• SHINE network update
• Call for volunteers for new SHINE engagement groups
• New SHINE resources for  2022- 2023
• SHINE affiliated research projects
• HBSC study - thanks and School-level questionnaire (SQL)
• Wider research, events and resources for school communities

SHINE network update

Over the school holiday, the SHINE team has carried out various upgrades and improvements to all systems and resources. The school members' folders have been updated to include new resources, support videos for members and some existing resources have been refreshed.

As the new academic session begins, SHINE is keen to further develop the whole-school approach to improving health and wellbeing using data as evidence. This year's plans include a particular emphasis on engagement with the wider school community to involve parents, young people and staff in the discussion about the best way to use data effectively to support health improvements.

Through our school members' newsletter we have put out a call for young people, teachers and parents who would like to be part of new engagement groups that SHINE is setting up to support wider stakeholder involvement and consultation (see below).  

Call for volunteers for new SHINE engagement groups

We are delighted to welcome Mary Wilson to the SHINE research team this year. Mary will be working  on the DATAMIND project, which is funded for one year by the MRC. DATAMIND will explore how schools and stakeholders currently use SHINE data and then use this information to create improved access to data and mental health data literacy skills within the school community (including pupils and parents).

SHINE would like to engage with young people, teachers and parent groups to set up panels to enhance the participatory opportunities for SHINE schools and ensure that SHINE’s activities remain aligned with the needs of the school communities. Consultation groups will support the further development of SHINE's whole-school approach to improving health outcomes for young people.

Youth Advisory Group:  We would like to learn from young people's understanding of and perspectives on SHINE’s developments,  in particular, feedback on the new interactive data dashboard and the SHINE resources offered to schools. Volunteers would be invited to take part in focus groups with health researchers. This may provide useful leadership/citizen/communication skills and/or provide some insight and experience into the world of research for future scientists, health carers, and/or data analysts to name just a few potential careers. Please contact Mary.Wilson@glasgow.ac.uk for further information 

Teacher panel: Consultation with teachers about the resources and events that SHINE offers is crucial to making sure that we get future developments right for practitioners. If you work with a particular group of teachers that may find this interesting, please forward the newsletter and direct any enquiries to Dawn.Haughton@glasgow.ac.uk 

Parents & Carers’ Hub: SHINE would like to develop a parents & carers’ hub on the SHINE website in collaboration with parents and carers to facilitate greater parental engagement to ensure that we convey findings and resources in an accessible manner If you work with parent groups and know parents who might be interested, please ask them to contact Mary.Wilson@glasgow.ac.uk for further information.

New for 2022-2023!

SHINE affiliated research projects

Researchers at the University of Glasgow invite you to take part in the CLOCK OFF study which has received ethical approval. The purpose of the study is to develop and refine a peer-led school-based programme to reduce night-time interactive electronic device and social media use among young people (12-13 years). We will work with young people, school staff and parents/guardians/carers to develop this programme in both Scotland and Wales. Full details about the study and what it would mean for your school are available here . A brief summary is also available in a short video for young people.

As a first step, we are hoping to recruit 20-30 young people ( 2-4 young people per school) from Scotland and Wales to take part in a four-week programme (4 x one and half hours) of workshops. These workshops will run in September and October and may extend further, dependent on recruitment and availability of young people.

If you are keen to be involved in this exciting study; you can contact Colin Shore at Colin.Shore@glasgow.ac.uk or email Dawn Haughton at Dawn.Haughton@glasgow.ac.uk.

Between 1987 and 2006, researchers studied the factors that best accounted for declining adolescent mental health in 20 schools in the West of Scotland. From those studies, findings revealed that arguments with parents, school disengagement, worry about school, and for young women, worry about family relationships were significant factors. Now, 16 years later, Net4Health will extend these earlier studies to explore which factors are most strongly related to adolescent mental health today.

How much has changed for young people in 16 years? How do young people relate to each other and what influences their wellbeing the most in the modern school setting?

Several Local Authorities and Schools have already signed up to take part in the study, and to receive tailored schools health reports; but there are still places available for more schools to join Net4Health. To find out more about joining the study and getting a school health report, please contact the project lead at Mark.McCann@glasgow.ac.uk. You can find further information here.

Thank you to all the schools and their pupils who participated in the 2022 HBSC study. School-level health and wellbeing data reports have been sent to schools over the summer and we hope schools will find their report useful to support health and wellbeing planning and activities within their school. We would be extremely grateful if participating schools could now complete the HBSC School Level Questionnaire (SLQ, an online link was distributed w/c 20^th June). The SLQ collects information on aspects of school policy, programmes, environment and ethos which are relevant to health improvement. The data from the SLQ are particularly useful when merged with the child-level data and used in tandem to measure the extent and relative importance of child- and school-level determinants of adolescent health and wellbeing.

Findings and trends over time by gender, age and socioeconomic status from the 2022 HBSC survey in Scotland will be available in a National report in 2023. This report and the International report will be available on the  HBSC website. The data gathered from young people in Scotland and 50 other countries participating in the HBSC study are used by national governments and international agencies such as the World Health Organisation to support policy and programme development.

Wider research, events and resources for schools

• Scottish Guidance Association Conference - Saturday 17th September 2022
• TRIUMPH network symposium - 5th September  2022
• 20-minute neighbourhood project at the Festival of Social Sciences - register by 15th Sept 2022
• Opportunity to participate in the ENTER study (E-DetectioN Tool for Emerging Mental DisoRders)
• BEAT ( UK's main eating disorders charity) - new resources and a practitioner conference on 27th Sept 2022

The Scottish Guidance Association will hold its annual conference on Saturday 17th Sept, 2022. This year, the conference will return to a face-to-face event at Carnegie Conference centre in Dunfermline. The day includes lunch and costs £100 for SGA members and £130 for non-members. Membership of the SGA is free.

Speakers include:

• Education Scotland Update : Tracy Johnston and Lorna Aitken
• Supporting LGBT+ Young People in Schools, Bryony Mole, LGBT Youth
• What is Visible Difference?, Angela Harris, Changing Faces
• Northfield Matters - What we have learned about integrating Suicide Prevention in the School Environment, Louise Penfold, SAMH and Lydia Tait, Aberdeen City Council
• The Power of Mentoring, Dr Iain MacRitchie, MCR Pathways

Full programme

Registration form

Join the TRIUMPH team for this free online event to hear findings from plus-funded projects and youth-led research, discuss coproduction experiences with researchers and young people and celebrate the TRIUMPH Network’s achievements. Further details of the Symposium programme are available on the events page.

Register here

The 20-minute neighbourhood research project, part of the 2022 Festival of Social Sciences (22^nd October to 13^th November 2022)

Calling all geography and modern studies departments! Your school is invited to take part in the 20-minute neighbourhood research project.

Background of the study: The University of Glasgow are conducting a research project as part of the 2022 Festival of Social Sciences. The aim of the project is to understand what local places are important to young people’s health outcomes. This directly links to the Scottish Government’s living locally agenda. Governments worldwide are designing local areas so that you can walk to places from your house. “A 20-minute neighbourhood” means that it would only take 10 minutes to walk to places such as the shops, your school, the doctor’s, the park or to meet a friend from your home. This has the potential to create healthy and sustainable places by reducing the requirement for car travel.

The research project: An interactive online tool has been created that lets you search for your home, just like GoogleMaps. It then shows whether there is a food shop, park, school, cinema or library, within a 10-minute walk of home. The participating young people would be asked to think about what they have available in their local area and then complete the Place Standard Tool for Children and Young People. The tool has been adapted and developed by The Scottish Government, Play Scotland and A Place in Childhood in consultation with children and young people.

Suitability for school lessons: To use this in a Geography or Modern studies lesson, a short 2-minute video will be provided to explain the Scottish Government policy, the research project and the young people have been asked to do ie. explore their local area using the online map and complete the online place standard questionnaire. The Festival of Social Sciences activity will be suitable for use in lessons at school, for example Geography or Modern Studies as well as extra-curricular groups – Eco committees etc or school policies activity.

How to take part: Interested schools should contact the SHINE network manager at Dawn.Haughton@glasgow.ac.uk or the project lead, Jon Olsen, at Jonathan.Olsen@glasgow.ac.uk directly by Wed 15th September 2022 to receive the full details. The tool will be trialled as part of the Festival of Social Sciences in Oct/Nov.

King’s College London and the University of Glasgow are currently conducting a study on mental health problems among young people. The goal of the ENTER study is to improve our ability to offer early support to young people experiencing mental distress via the use of an online early detection tool. The study invites participants to fill out an online questionnaire which asks about recent experiences, thoughts, and feelings. The study is open young people between 12 to 35 years of age in Glasgow, London and their surrounding areas.

For more information, please go to our website https://enter.inp.gla.ac.uk or contact  Prof Peter Uhlhaas Peter.Uhlhaas@glasgow.ac.uk or Rebecca Warner-Hodgkin Rebecca.Hodgkin@glasgow.ac.uk

Eating disorder services across Scotland are experiencing significant increases in referrals.  Since the start of the pandemic, Beat has seen a 250% increase in the number of people seeking help from our helpline services.  Callers are raising more complex and severe issues. BEAT provides resources and events for schools:

Scotland Event :  Us VS Eating Disorders   #TogetherWeChangeLives

We are holding our first face-to-face event on all issues related to Eating Disorders at the Technology and Innovation Centre at the University Of Strathclyde on 27 September 2022 @ 9am - 4:30pm.  From healthcare and school professionals to students, commissioners and carers - everyone is welcome.  Early bird tickets are only £30.00. Don't miss out! Book your place today!  Our full line-up of speakers is yet to be announced. Sign up to our mailing list and be the first to find out the latest news about the event!

 BEAT Resources for schools: BEAT has two online learning platforms; POD – Peer support and Online Development for parents and carers of those who are suffering from eating disorders and SPOT – School Professionals Online Training, designed for those working directly within a school setting.

Both SPOT and POD are fully funded nationwide, meaning school professionals, parents, and carers have access to a plethora of resources for free

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