Mental well-being of young people on Gotland: A research-based regional development project
The mental health of young people is crucial for both individual well-being and societal development. On Gotland, almost half of young people of secondary and upper secondary school age have moderate to low mental well-being. Despite this, there is a lack of structured work to promote young people's mental well-being at the regional level. The project aims to explore young people's ideas about what can be done in the local community on Gotland to strengthen their mental well-being. The results of the project will then enable further work, in a future project, to develop an action plan for young people's mental wellbeing on Gotland, together with young people and various stakeholders in Gotland society.
Details
- Period: 2024-12-16 – 2026-06-30
- Funder: Region Gotland, Länsförsäkringar Gotland, Church of Sweden Visby Parish and the research group Chap at Uppsala University
This regional research-based development project is owned by Region Gotland and the CHAP research group is responsible for implementing the research in the project.
Background
Both internationally and in Sweden, young people's mental health is a recognised area of great importance for strengthening the health of individuals, but also for the development of society and for achieving social sustainability. Research on Gotland shows that almost one in two young people of secondary and upper secondary school age have moderate to low mental well-being. Mental well-being is a prerequisite for people to function well and to contribute to their own and society's development. Poor mental well-being can lead to mental health problems, but also to physical illness and premature death. Therefore, if a large proportion of young people in a region have poor mental well-being, this can have major negative consequences for the region. Instead, a high level of mental well-being can protect against mental health problems and is a resource for both individuals and society to be productive and resilient. Mental well-being is recognised by the WHO, the Public Health Agency of Sweden, the National Board of Health and Welfare and the Swedish Association of Local Authorities and Regions as a crucial factor for the development of society, both socially and economically.
The aim of the project
The aim of this project is to map, together with young people as co-researchers, young people's ideas about possible actions that can be done locally on Gotland to strengthen their mental well-being. This will be done by involving six people aged 13-22 years as co-researchers to, among other things, conduct a qualitative study with young people (13-24 years) about their views on what can be done locally on Gotland to strengthen young people's mental well-being. Representatives from local organisations on Gotland in the public sector, business and non-profit sector will also be involved in discussions with the young co-researchers.
Read more about the project implementation
The project is carried out as a research based regional development project on Gotland with Region Gotland as the project owner and the research group Chap as the responsible actor for the research leaders in the project.
The research is carried out with patient and public involvement (PPI), which means that people from the group being researched are involved as co-researchers and are involved in influencing the research process. This is done here by recruiting six young people as co-researchers who follow the project throughout.
The project is implemented in two main phases
The first phase focuses on co-creative planning of the further research process. Six young people (aged 13-22) are recruited as co-researchers in the project. CHAP researchers then meet with the young co-researchers in several workshops to build a safe group, set ground rules and plan the work of the group with the support of a developed framework for patient and public involvement in research. The young people then identify actors that they consider important to be involved in influencing the mental well-being of young people on Gotland. Staff from the identified actors are invited to meet the young co-researchers so that they can gain an insight into the work that is being done and can be done in Gotland society by the various actors, to strengthen young people's mental well-being. Planning is made for future studies with young people about their views on what can be done to strengthen their mental well-being and the ethics application for ethical review of the research is formulated. .
In the next phase, a deeper knowledge base is collected on young people's mental wellbeing and their views on what can be done to improve their mental wellbeing. Involved researchers and co-researching young people will conduct interviews, data analysis and summarise the results in reports and scientific articles.
In this step, students from Uppsala University will also be engaged to participate in sub-studies, e.g. from the nursing programme at Campus Gotland.
In addition, there is a range of possible activities that can be implemented according to need and opportunity. This may involve accessing statistics and knowledge about measures that already exist among various actors, conducting new analyses of existing data and consulting literature in the field.
Those working in the project
Veronica Hermann, associated researcher at CHAP and public health strategist in Region Gotland
Georgina Warner, associate professor
Tove Törnqvist, organisation developer at Region Gotland
Seven co-researchers ages 13-20
Contact
Please reach out to Veronica Hermann if you have any questions
