DIVERT
Research type
Research Study
Full title
DIVERT: Co-producing a distress tolerance intervention to reduce self-harm episodes in young people
IRAS ID
341346
Contact name
Clare Fenton
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
Leeds and York Partnership NHS Foundation Trust
Duration of Study in the UK
1 years, 0 months, 30 days
Research summary
The study aim is to work with young people, families and clinical professionals to understand how a self-help toolkit can help young people to reduce self-harming and make guidelines for its use.
Background
Some young people harm themselves to manage difficult thoughts and feelings. It is not easy for them to ask for help, but if they do, they often don’t get help quickly. This makes it important to have interventions like self-help toolkits that young people can use to help themselves reduce distress and avoid self-harm.
Self-help toolkits are made by a child or adolescent with their parent/carer. They contain personal items, for example, toys, pictures, and ways to reach out, like a friend's number or a helpline. We know self-help toolkits are helpful, but there is no guidance about why, or how to use them. More research is needed about the views and experiences of children, young people and their families/carers to create this.
Design and Methods
We will bring together young people, parents/carers, mental health staff and researchers to form a ‘co-production group’. They will develop an understanding of how self-help toolkits work and what is needed for different children and adolescents to make good use of them. They will do this through various methods including discussions, creative methods, or using Padlet and Mentimeter. This group will guide all parts of the research. To gather more information about self-help toolkits, we will hold five focus groups:
• 14-18yrs who have used a self-help toolkit for self-harm thoughts
• 11-14yrs who have experienced self-harm
• 14-18yrs who have experienced self-harm
• Parents/carers
• Mental health professionals
Each focus group will consider why, where, when and how to use self-help toolkits through activities such as drawing, using Padlet and/or Mentimeter, card sorting and creating these boxes. Information from the focus groups will be shared with the co-production group to help develop guidelines.REC name
HSC REC A
REC reference
24/NI/0065
Date of REC Opinion
26 Jun 2024
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion