The Blueprint Project - The Co-Researcher Role

Introduction

 

The Blueprint study aimed to develop a model of high-quality service design for children and young people experiencing common mental health problems. The study consisted of three stages: evidence synthesis phase, primary research phase & model building phase. Six co-researchers were recruited to work on the primary research phase alongside the research team. The co-researchers employed were young people with lived experience of mental health issues. They received bespoke training at the start of their role which covered research ethics, interview skills and qualitative research methods. 

 

Method

 

The co-researchers co-interviewed children and young people service users, parents and carers and service providers from nine mental health services across England and Wales alongside the lead researcher. They were able to ask as little or as many questions as they liked, generally building this up over time to help train them to feel competent and confident interviewers. The co-researchers assisted the research team in the framework analysis of the interviews. The study papers were reviewed and co-authored by the co-researchers. For the co-researcher reflection paper, each of the co-researchers wrote their own reflective piece of their co-researcher journey. One co-researcher worked with the lead researcher using thematic analysis to analyse all the reflective pieces. The emerging themes where then discussed and agreed on amongst the team, before co-written up into the paper.

 

Results & Discussion

 

In this presentation we will explore first hand lived experiences of involving young people as co-researchers in the Blueprint project and what resources are needed to do this successfully. We will share the co-researcher reflections, which include what made the co-researcher journey successful on the Blueprint project, as well as some challenges that were also faced.