ADR Wales themed projects: Mental Health
Categories: Research using linked data, ADR Wales, YDG Cymru, Children & young people, Health & wellbeing, Inequality & social inclusion
22 September 2023
The ADR Wales Mental Health research programme led by Professor Ann John will focus on the issues of anxiety, depression, and suicide and self-harm prevention. This is in line with the Welsh Government’s commitment to invest in mental health by redesigning services to “improve prevention, tackle stigma and promote a no-wrong door approach to mental health support”.
While there was already in a rise in mental health-related themes prior to the pandemic, the research team aims to better understand the impacts of the pandemic itself on children and young people’s mental health. This analysis is informed by the team’s previous research on school absences and exclusions and their connections to mental health diagnoses. Ultimately, it is hoped that providing an evidence base can lead to policies and practices focused on identifying and treating poor mental health as early as possible, before a crisis point is reached.
The Mental Health research programme has strong links to a number of leading mental health organisations and steering groups. Ann John is Principal Investigator and Co-Director of DATAMIND, The Health Data Research Hub for Mental Health. She also leads the Adolescent Mental Health Data Platform, the Suicide Information Database-Cymru, the informatics work streams of the Wolfson Centre for Young People’s Mental Health, and the National Centre for Mental Health. She is affiliated with numerous other mental health organisations.
Read more about the projects:
Impact of antidepressant prescribing guidance
This project aims to examine recent trends of depression and antidepressant prescribing over time.
Mental health and self-harming behaviours in university students in Wales
This project will look at the trajectories of students’ mental health in Wales. It will look at this both before and during university, and in comparison to non-students in Wales.
Mental health and self-harm in prisoners in Wales
This project aims to understand the risk factors for self-harming behaviour of male prisoners in Wales. It aims to investigate mental health and behaviours before imprisonment and in a control group of men of matching age from the general population. It will also investigate the relationship between mental health and behaviours, and the occurrence and severity of self-harm events recorded in prison.
Risk of suicide following school absenteeism and exclusion
This project seeks to understand the association between school absences and exclusions and suicide among young people in Wales.
Mental health and self-harming behaviours in pupils Educated Other Than at School (EOTAS) in Wales
This project sets out to understand the mental health of EOTAS pupils. It will investigate both the diagnoses and symptoms of mental health and self-harm before and after being EOTAS. This will be in comparison to a control group with comparable age, sex, and socioeconomic characteristics in Wales.
The mental health of socio-economic, ethnic minority and underserved groups
This project will investigate disparities in access to services and mental health trajectories of socio-economic, ethnic minority, and underserved groups.
Categories: Research using linked data, ADR Wales, YDG Cymru, Children & young people, Health & wellbeing, Inequality & social inclusion
