Long-Term Modelling Tools for Adolescent Mental Health and Wellbeing Research
The overall aim of the project is to develop and test a novel approach to long-term effect modelling for adolescent mental health and wellbeing (AMHW) research, based on lifecourse microsimulation, that can help address a range of important unanswered research questions about heterogeneity in the long-term effects of interventions on AMHW and in the lifecourse causes and consequences of AMHW. As well as consulting AMHW researchers and policymakers, we will collaborate with youth social work apprentices and sixth formers to ensure that our computer simulations of individual adolescent lives and long-term AMHW trajectories are grounded in adolescent experiences and able to produce findings that young people themselves find relevant and meaningful.
By synthesising interdisciplinary knowledge and high-quality longitudinal data, and focusing on a core set of AMHW and related outcomes that matter to young people, policymakers and stakeholders, we will develop long-term modelling tools to accelerate progress in the AMHW field and provide generalisable learning about how and why the long-term effects on AMHW of interventions vary for different adolescents living in different circumstances. This will enable researchers to build upon trial-based evaluation of the short-term effects of interventions on AMHW and shed new light on how best to scale up, target and implement interventions for levelling-up and improving AMHW.

Start date
01 Nov 2022
End date
31 Oct 2025
Funder
UKRI (Medical Research Council)