Young Minds Matter: towards better evidence – a special Cochrane blog series

Launching a special series of blogs on children and young people’s mental health, #YoungMindsMatter, joint Co-ordinating Editors of Cochrane Common Mental Disorders (CCMD), Associate Professor Sarah Hetrick and Professor Rachel Churchill, introduce the CCMD Children and Young People satellite that is taking up the challenge of ensuring that good quality, meaningful evidence is available to support decision making, and give a taste of what you can expect from the series.

Let’s focus on children and young people

International evidence shows that 20% of young people experience a mental health problem in any given year [1] and 50% of mental health problems are established by the age of 14 [2]. Mental and substance use disorders explain the bulk of burden of disease in young people aged 12-25 [3] and represent a key risk factorAn aspect of a person's condition, lifestyle or environment that affects the chance of them getting a disease. For example, cigarette smoking is a risk factor for lung cancer. for suicide. Investment in child and youth mental health is essential to prevent the adverse sequelae of child and youth-onset mental health problems and ensure relevant, meaningful and high-quality evidence to support decision-making by individuals making choices about their own health and wellbeing, as well as those making decisions about investments in services.

Introducing the Cochrane Common Mental Disorders Children and Young People satellite (CCMD-CYP)

Systematic reviews are one of the best decision-making tools for healthcare decision and policy making [4]. The Cochrane Common Mental Disorders (CCMD) Group has published over 200 Cochrane reviewsCochrane Reviews are systematic reviews. In systematic reviews we search for and summarize studies that answer a specific research question (e.g. is paracetamol effective and safe for treating back pain?). The studies are identified, assessed, and summarized by using a systematic and predefined approach. They inform recommendations for healthcare and research., aiming to provide the best available evidence on what works, what might harm and where further research is needed for people with common mental disorders.

To enhance its editorial and research capacity to inform decision-making with children and young people with emerging or existing common mental disorders, the group has established a Satellite of CCMD to focus specifically on the mental health evidence needs of children and young people. Engaging young people with lived experience and the use of co-production processes has resulted in the creation of key principles for the work of the group.

Engaging young people in our work

The initial focus of the Satellite has been on identifying high priority research gaps that will be the focus of evidence syntheses for the group, resulting in identification of important questions about the prevention and treatmentSomething done with the aim of improving health or relieving suffering. For example, medicines, surgery, psychological and physical therapies, diet and exercise changes. of common mental disorders in children and young people and a vehicle to address these priorities in a way that informs decision-making. This is an ongoing activity, engaging a broad range of stakeholders, and in particular young people themselves. One of our current priority setting activities is a survey exploring evidence gaps for children and young people’s mental health, and we are eager for those who engage with this blog series to fill in and share the survey. Please complete the survey. 

It can be difficult to involve young people in the production of systematic reviewsIn systematic reviews we search for and summarize studies that answer a specific research question (e.g. is paracetamol effective and safe for treating back pain?). The studies are identified, assessed, and summarized by using a systematic and predefined approach. They inform recommendations for healthcare and research. in a meaningful way and not much guidance exists about how to do this. For example, what are the questions that are relevant to this group and will the evidence be useful to young people? The satellite is also working with young people and other stakeholders to develop a framework which outlines how to do this.

Coming up in this special series

Throughout February we will be exploring ideas, initiatives and approaches to supporting children and young people’s mental health through a series of guest blogs. We will look at how we, along with key partners, engage and include young people in our work and help them contribute to developing our evidence as well as supporting them to use it. We will share our thinking on the responsibility of using images to communicate mental health research findings, which will also be the topic of a tweetchat on Wednesday 12th February. We will also look at recent evidence for interventions in young people with chronic illnessA health condition marked by long duration, by frequent recurrence over a long time, and often by slowly progressing seriousness. For example, rheumatoid arthritis. and the activities we are involved in around suicide prevention.

We really want to hear what you have to say, so please follow our #YoungMindsMatter series and join the conversation on Twitter with @Cochrane_CCMD @CochraneUK , @SarahShetrick and @ChurchillRachel, join our tweetchat at 20.00 GMT on Wednesday 12th February or leave comments on the blogs.

References (pdf).

Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed herein are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect those of the UK National Health Service, the NIHR, or the UK Department of Health and Social Care.

Disclosure of interest:

Rachel Churchill reports grants from NIHR, during the conduct of the work.

Sarah Hetrick reports grants from Royal Society of New Zealand, grants from Faculty Research Development Fund-Faculty of Medical and Health Sciences, University of Auckland, during the conduct of the work; grants from Auckland Medical Research Foundation Douglas Goodfellow Repatriation Fellowship, outside the submitted work; and I am the joint co-ordinating editor of the Cochrane Common Mental Disorders Group and take responsibility for the Child and Young Person Satellite.