Wellbeing in Schools and Colleges (WiSC)
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Mental health provision for children and young people in schools and FE colleges (11-25 years) with experiences of care: Mixed-method study of implementation, acceptability, need and priority outcomes
IRAS ID
323133
Contact name
Gillian Hewitt
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
Cardiff University
Duration of Study in the UK
1 years, 6 months, 30 days
Research summary
Schools are important settings for supporting the mental health and wellbeing of care-experienced children and young people (CYP), but there is a lack of services that are tailored to their needs. There has also been limited research on how schools, colleges, social work teams and Child and Adolescent Mental Health Service (CAMHS) teams can best work together to support care-experienced CYP’s mental health and wellbeing. This project therefore aims to understand how CYP, parents and carers, school and Further Education (FE) college staff, social workers and CAMHS staff experience delivering and receiving mental health and wellbeing provision for care-experienced CYP in secondary schools and FE colleges in Wales.
The project will begin with consultations with three stakeholder groups (care-experienced CYP, parents and carers, and practitioners) and then we will undertake five related packages of work:
1. Secondary data analysis of SHRN survey data: We will use survey responses collected in 2017/18 by the School Health Research Network (SHRN).
2. Schools: We will undertake interviews with CYP, parents and carers, and staff in four secondary schools.
3. FE colleges: We will conduct interviews and focus groups with YP and staff in two colleges.
4. Social work teams and CAMHS teams: we will conduct interviews and focus groups with senior managers and social workers in child services and foster carer social work teams, and we will conduct interviews with mental health nurses and managers from CAMHS teams.
5. Stakeholder consultations: recommendations at workshops with care-experienced CYP, parents and carers, practitioners and policy-makers to develop them further.
This IRAS application is relevant to Work Package 4 only (the recruitment of NHS staff working in CAMHS) and we have secured a favourable ethical opinion for the work as a whole via the Cardiff University School of Social Sciences Research Ethics Committee.
REC name
N/A
REC reference
N/A