Young people co-producing adolescent mental health research emphasised the importance of both positive and negative mental health constructs, suicidality/suicide-ideation, social media, academic stress and relationships as predictive factors, and highlighted language use and response scale length as critical to measure appropriateness.
MHIM-YPAG members emphasised the importance of including both general and specific mental health constructs that reflected both positive and negative traits.
Members emphasised the importance of examining suicidality and suicide-ideation as a mental health construct in adolescent research.
Social media, academic stress and relationships were identified as the most relevant predictive factors for adolescent mental health by MHIM-YPAG members.
Language use and response scale length were identified as important considerations when determining the appropriateness of mental health measures for adolescents.
Co-production with young people improved the appropriateness and relevance of adolescent mental health study design.
The MHIM-YPAG used a structured methodology involving group discussion followed by individual ranking of constructs, predictive factors and measures.
This research describes how a group of 18 young people were involved as co-producers in designing a mental health study called the Mental Health in the Moment (MHIM) project. The young people, who formed an advisory group called the MHIM-YPAG, took part in online group discussions and ranking exercises to help researchers decide which mental health topics, risk factors, and measurement tools should be included in the study. Their input covered what aspects of mental health are most worth studying, what factors might predict mental health outcomes, and how questions should be worded and structured. The young people indicated that research should look at both positive and negative aspects of mental health, and specifically stressed that suicidal thoughts and behaviours must be included as a topic. They ranked social media use, academic stress, and personal relationships as the factors most likely to influence adolescent mental health. When reviewing measurement tools (questionnaires and scales), they highlighted that the language used and the length of rating scales were critical to whether a measure felt appropriate for young people to complete. This research suggests that involving young people directly in the design of mental health studies leads to research that is more relevant and appropriate for adolescents. The authors present the MHIM-YPAG approach as a practical model that other researchers could follow when conducting co-production in mental health research. The findings offer concrete guidance on which mental health constructs, predictive factors, and measurement considerations matter most to young people themselves.
Power L, Hoxha D, Caddick L, Xie T, Coulstock H, Crocker A, et al.. (2026). Constructs, Predictive Factors and Measures: Insights From the Mental Health in the Moment (MHIM) Co-Production Panel.. Health expectations : an international journal of public participation in health care and health policy. https://doi.org/10.1111/hex.70686