| 1. |
- Barbabella, Francesco, Dr. 1984-, et al.
(författare)
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Recruitment of Adolescent Young Carers to a Psychosocial Support Intervention Study in Six European Countries : Lessons Learned from the ME-WE Project
- 2023
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Ingår i: International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health. - : MDPI. - 1661-7827 .- 1660-4601. ; 20:6
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Young carers provide a substantial amount of care to family members and support to friends, yet their situation has not been actively addressed in research and policy in many European countries or indeed globally. Awareness of their situation by professionals and among children and young carers themselves remains low overall. Thus, young carers remain a largely hidden group within society. This study reports and analyses the recruitment process in a multi-centre intervention study offering psychosocial support to adolescent young carers (AYCs) aged 15–17 years. A cluster-randomised controlled trial was designed, with recruitment taking place in Italy, the Netherlands, Slovenia, Sweden, Switzerland and the United Kingdom exploiting various channels, including partnerships with schools, health and social services and carers organisations. In total, 478 AYCs were recruited and, after screening failures, withdrawals and initial dropouts, 217 were enrolled and started the intervention. Challenges encountered in reaching, recruiting and retaining AYCs included low levels of awareness among AYCs, a low willingness to participate in study activities, uncertainty about the prevalence of AYCs, a limited school capacity to support the recruitment; COVID-19 spreading in 2020–2021 and related restrictions. Based on this experience, recommendations are put forward for how to better engage AYCs in research.
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| 2. |
- Casu, Giulia, et al.
(författare)
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Promoting mental health and well‐being among adolescent young carers in Europe : a randomized controlled trial protocol
- 2021
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Ingår i: International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health. - : MDPI. - 1661-7827 .- 1660-4601. ; 18:4, s. 1-23
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- It is estimated that 4–8% of youth in Europe carry out substantial care for a familymember or significant other. To prevent adverse psychosocial outcomes in young carers (YCs),primary prevention resilience building interventions have been recommended. We describe thestudy protocol of an international randomized controlled trial (RCT) of an innovative group interventiondesigned to promote the mental health and well‐being of adolescent YCs (AYCs) aged15–17. The RCT will be conducted in six European countries in the context of the Horizon 2020European funded research and innovation project “Psychosocial support for promoting mentalhealth and well‐being among adolescent young caregivers in Europe” (“ME‐WE”). The ME‐WEintervention is based on Hayes and Ciarrochi’s psychoeducational model for adolescents and willconsist of seven 2‐h sessions in a group format, aimed to help AYCs build psychological flexibilityand live according to their values. The control group will be a waitlist. Primary and secondaryoutcomes and control variables will be measured at baseline (T0), post‐intervention (T1) and 3months follow‐up (T2). The COVID‐19 pandemic has made amendments necessary to the originalstudy protocol methodology, which we describe in detail. This study will contribute to building anevidence‐based manualized program that educators and health and social care professionals canuse to support AYCs in their transition to adulthood. From a research perspective, the outcomes ofthis study will contribute to evidence‐based practices in primary prevention of psychosocial difficultiesin AYCs and will gather novel knowledge on the effectiveness of Hayes and Ciarrochi’smodel for use with middle adolescents with caring responsibilities. The trial has been preregistered (registration number: NCT04114864).
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| 3. |
- Hanson, Elizabeth, 1961-, et al.
(författare)
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Ethical Considerations When Conducting Pan-European Research with and for Adolescent Young Carers
- 2023
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Ingår i: Ethics and social welfare. - : Taylor & Francis Group. - 1749-6535 .- 1749-6543. ; 17:2, s. 125-158
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Adolescent young carers (AYCs) are a sub-group of young carers who carry out significant or substantial caring tasks and assume a level of responsibility which would usually be associated with an adult. They are a potentially vulnerable group of minors because of the risk factors associated with their caring role. AYCs face a critical transition phase from adolescence to adulthood often with a lack of tailored support from service providers. The recently completed European funded ‘ME-WE’ project, which forms the focus of this paper, aimed to change the ‘status quo’ by advancing the situation of AYCs in Europe, via responsive research and knowledge translation actions. This paper outlines the participatory, co-creation approach employed in the project to optimise AYC’s involvement. It describes the ethical framework adopted by the project consortium to ensure the wellbeing of AYCs within all project activities. Ethical issues that arose in the field study work in all six countries are presented, followed by a discussion of the level of success or otherwise of the consortium to address these issues. The paper concludes with lessons learned regarding ethically responsible research with and for AYCs that are likely transferable to other vulnerable research groups and pan-European projects.
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| 4. |
- Hanson, Elizabeth, 1961-, et al.
(författare)
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Research and Innovation for and with Adolescent Young Carers to Influence Policy and Practice—The European Union Funded “ME-WE” Project
- 2022
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Ingår i: International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health. - : MDPI. - 1661-7827 .- 1660-4601. ; 19:16
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Young carers are children and adolescents who provide care to other family members or friends, taking over responsibilities that are usually associated with adulthood. There is emerging but still scarce knowledge worldwide about the phenomenon of young carers and the impact of a caring role on their health, social and personal development spheres. This paper provides an overview of the main results from the ME-WE project, which is the first European research and innovation project dedicated to adolescent young carers (AYCs) (15–17 years). The project methods relied on three main activities: (1) a systematization of knowledge (by means of a survey to AYCs, country case studies, Delphi study, literature review); (2) the co-design, implementation and evaluation of a primary prevention intervention addressing AYCs’ mental health (by means of Blended Learning Networks and a clinical trial in six European countries); (3) the implementation of knowledge translation actions for dissemination, awareness, advocacy and lobbying (by means of national and international stakeholder networks, as well as traditional and new media). Project results substantially contributed to a better understanding of AYCs’ conditions, needs and preferences, defined tailored support intervention (resilient to COVID-19 related restrictions), and significant improvements in national and European policies for AYCs.
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