Wellbeing, Health and Youth: Centre for Research Excellence in Adolescent Health

The Wellbeing, Health and Youth (WH&Y) Centre for Research Excellence in Adolescent Health, funded by the National Health and Medical Research Council, is an Australia-wide network of researchers committed to championing good health and wellbeing in adolescence.

Young and Resilient is home to Research Stream 2: Ethics of Engagement. This stream works with diverse young people, families, professionals, policy-makers, service providers and other community members to investigate mechanisms, ethics and modalities of youth-engaged health research in the digital society. The stream aims to increase the capacity of researchers, communities and institutions to be receptive and responsive to the views and needs that young people express in order to enable more and better adolescent health research. To achieve this, the stream will advance understanding of the ethical issues arising from digital data, machine learning and automation and propose improved ethics frameworks and guidelines that enhance capacity to undertake health research with young people in the digital age.

Researchers

• Associate Professor Philippa Collin
• Dr Teresa Swist
• Professor Amanda Third

Funding

National Health and Medical Research Council (via University of Sydney)

Outputs

Publications

• Swist T, Collin P, Lewis J, et al. (2023) A digital innovation typology: Navigating the complexity of emerging technologies to negotiate health systems research with young people. Digital Health. Online first: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/20552076231212286
• Arnot, G., Pitt, H., McCarthy, S., Collin, P. Thomas, S. (2023) Editorial: Supporting young people as genuine political actors in climate decision-making. Health Promotion International. 38; 1 – 4.
• Nguyen, B., Manandi, D., Lin, P., Mekkonnen, B., Nguyen, P., Giordano, M., Collin, P. (2022) WH&Y Youth Matters: Young people’s perspectives. NHMRC Wellbeing Health & Youth Centre of Research Excellence.
• Swist, T. Colin, P. et al (2022) ‘The Wellbeing Health & Youth Commission: Advancing youth engagement in adolescent health through a research-practice partnership’. Health Expectations 25:6, 3085-3095.  https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/hex.13616?utm_source=google&utm_medium=paidsearch&utm_campaign=R3MR425&utm_content=Healthcare

Resources

• The Youth Engagement in Health Research guidebook is a practical suite of resources that guide and support researches in engaging and collaborating with young people. A recording of the guidebook launch is available.
• The 2021 Youth health, research and policy priorities and concerns report was written by young people in genuine partnership with our leading researchers and staff and captures principles and strategies to address youth health concerns, giving a voice to young people who want the double-disadvantage in health they can face, based on their age and other aspects of their identities, to be addressed. Young people around Australia are calling for action on top health issues, research and policy priorities.
• The Wellbeing Health & Youth (WH&Y) Engagement Framework has been co-produced with young people and other experts in a growing community of practice. Rather than provide principles that direct how researchers, projects, organisations or governments should achieve engagement with young people, the WH&Y Engagement Framework presents a set of values and practical questions that to prompt responses and decision making that promote ethical practices of engagement with young people.
• The WH&Y Commission supported six young people to create commentaries for the Australian Institute of Health  and Welfare (AIHW) on the topics of Climate change, Discrimination, belonging and health, and The wellbeing of LGBTIQ+ young people. We also shaped the Australia's youth 2021 report by AIHW through targeted consultations and expert advice from our academics.
• Our Mini Guide - Using Future Scenarios in Youth Health Research provides information and advice about using scenario planning to critically and creatively engage young people in thinking about complex issues with a systems-thinking approach.

Additional outputs

• Collin, P. Institute of Advanced Study Seminar, ‘networked capabilities’: rethinking wellbeing in a digital society. Cosin’s Hall. 28 February 2023
• WH&Y Commissioners attended the 2022 AAAH Conference in Melbourne and the 2023 AAAH Conference in Adelaide. In 2023, WH&Y Commissioners co-facilitated a workshop, gave three papers and contributed to the Youth Forum.
• The Research PRIDE: Engaging LGBTQIA+ young people project was a collaboration between the WH&Y Commission, researchers, lived-experience experts and other advocates. You can read the webpage, watch the webinar recording or read the accompanying resource.

Period

January 2018 – December 2022

Project website: WH&Y