The InvolveMENT project addresses quality and safety of mental health services for adolescents with mental health disorders and challenges affecting their everyday life. As part of the research strategy, youth are involved throughout multiple stages of the research, ranging from planning, carrying out, and analysing the research, through to disseminating the results. They have also been involved in funding applications. Ten youth Co-Researchers have been involved over the last year.
Petter Viksveen
University of Stavanger
2017-2027
In 2022, The InvolveMENT-team was successful in obtaining funding from the Norwegian Research Council (NRC) for a 4-year collaborative research project to improve the mental health of youth from minority backgrounds.
Mental health services have to a limited degree improved over the last decades. Many youth who need services don't seek help, and those who do often drop out. Youth are rarely directly involved in service development. This project therefore aimed to explore youth perspectives on the ideal healthcare services to meet their mental health needs. Data were collected from 295 adolescents attending a mental health seminar and their suggestions were further developed by the 10 InvolveMENT Co-Researchers. The results highlight the importance of services that are culturally sensitive and responsive. This includes the development and provision of sufficient and clear communication of information, easy access to services, a variety of support services to meet individual needs, and consistency of the support.
The results may have implications for healthcare practitioners, educators, system organizers, researchers and youth alike. Youth should be actively involved in further development of services, at every stage of the development process, to ensure the relevance of the services to best meet their mental health needs. This could contribute to improve the quality of the services, to increase the proportion of youth seeking professional help and reduce treatment drop-out.
Selected publications from 2022:
- Meldahl LG, Krijger L, Andvik MM, Cardenas NE, Cuddeford O, Duerto S, Game JR, Ibenfeldt M, Mustafa M, Tong M, Viksveen P. Characteristics of the ideal healthcare services to meet adolescents' mental health needs: A qualitative study of adolescents' perspectives. Health Expect. 2022 Dec;25(6):2924-2936. doi: 10.1111/hex.13600. Epub 2022 Sep 8.
News
SHARE RESEARCHERS
- Associate Professor Petter Viksveen (project manager)
- Associate Professor Stig Bjønness
MASTER STUDENT
- Katrine Andersen, University of Stavanger
CO- RESEARCHERS
- Maren McLean Andvik
- Nicole Elizabeth Cardenas
- Oliver Cuddeford
- Samuel Duerto
- Julia Rose Game
- Maya Ibenfeldt
- Lou Krigjer
- Laia Gomez Meldahl
- Murad Mustafa
- Mathias Tong