Improving young people’s health and wellbeing through a school health research network: reflections on school-researcher engagement at the national level

Hewitt, Gillian ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7946-4056, Roberts, Joan ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9803-2021, Fletcher, Adam ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6705-7659, Moore, Graham ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6136-3978 and Murphy, Simon ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3589-3681 2018. Improving young people’s health and wellbeing through a school health research network: reflections on school-researcher engagement at the national level. Research for All 2 (1) , pp. 16-33. 10.18546/RFA.02.1.03

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Abstract

The School Health Research Network is a policy-practice-research partnership established in Wales in 2013. The Network aims to: provide health and wellbeing data for national, regional and local stakeholders, including schools; co-produce school-based health improvement research for Wales; and build capacity for evidence-informed practice in the school health community. School-focused engagement activities include providing member schools with bespoke Student Health and Wellbeing Reports, hosting school health webinars, producing school-friendly research briefings, and holding annual events for schools. The Network’s model for co-producing research with schools is described and its impacts on schools is explored. These include more efficient recruitment of schools to research projects, school involvement in intervention development, schools beginning to embed evidence-informed practice by using their Reports and other Network resources, and securing funding to evaluate innovative health and wellbeing practices identified by schools. Drawing on the Trans-disciplinary Action Research (TDAR) literature, the article reflects on how TDAR principles have underpinned Network progress. The concept of reciprocity in the co-production literature and its relevance to engagement with schools is also explored, along with the Network’s contribution to our understanding of how we can build sustainable co-production at large scale in order to generate national level action and benefit.

Item Type:	Article
Date Type:	Publication
Status:	Published
Schools:	Social Sciences (Includes Criminology and Education)
Subjects:	H Social Sciences > H Social Sciences (General)
Publisher:	UCL IOE Press
ISSN:	2399-8121
Date of First Compliant Deposit:	25 January 2018
Date of Acceptance:	5 September 2017
Last Modified:	11 Aug 2023 11:44
URI:	https://orca.cardiff.ac.uk/id/eprint/105312

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