Health Inequalities: Participative Research with Children and Young People

February 2019- May 2020

Children in Scotland was funded by the Wellcome Trust to carry out a participative research project with children and young people aged 10-18 living in areas of high deprivation in Glasgow and Dundee.

The project explored how community and place impacts on the health of children and young people and the choices that they make about this.

Professor Niamh Shortt puts the project in context.
(Watch the short animated film below)

Research findings animation – by Kael Onion Oakley
(Watch the short animation below)

The project aimed to:

Understand how social determinants of health impact on children and young people at a community level and drive health inequalities.
Develop a set of recommendations for use by both local and national policymakers to create communities that support better health and wellbeing and help reduce health inequalities.

We worked with 16 young peer researchers throughout the project to explore these issues. The researchers were based in Dalmarnock Primary School, Glasgow and Baldragon Academy, Dundee.

The researchers chose to focus on the following 3 topics:

Safety
Littering
Family and Friends.

The researchers conducted focus groups and visually documented their communities. We then worked together to analyse the data, identify themes, offer solutions and make recommendations. The young peer researchers also supported us to develop the final project report and the animation that visually records their findings.

In February 2020 Children in Scotland launched the final project report at an event at Tynecastle Stadium.
Click here to download the report

We have also prepared a series of other resources for professionals, decision-makers and children and young people themselves. This includes a series of briefings, postcards and other infographics.