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Home » Research » Programmes » Healthy Social Relationships » Transdisciplinary Research for the Improvement of Youth Mental Public Health (TRIUMPH NETWORK)

Transdisciplinary Research for the Improvement of Youth Mental Public Health (TRIUMPH NETWORK)

Principal Investigator

Jo Inchley (Network Director)

Co-investigators

Laurence Moore, Simon Murphy, Alice Maclachlan, Christina McMellon, Clare Spencer, Emily Cunningham, Julie Cameron, Kay Tisdall, Lee Knifton, Chris Bonnell, Mark McCann, Pauline Adair, Peter Gee, Rhiannon Evans, Rhys Bevan-Jones, Rory O’Connor, Ruth Hunter, Sharon Simpson, Andrea Taylor, Tara French, Ruth Lewis


Background

TRIUMPH is part of eight Mental Health Networks funded by  UK Research and Innovation (UKRI).

Childhood and adolescence are key life stages that set the foundations for health in adulthood. However, young people face real challenges to maintain their mental health. They live in an ever-changing environment, driven by changes in technology, communications and the media. Changes that have coincided with an increase in mental health problems, especially amongst girls.

One in ten children and young people experience mental health problems, yet we have few effective solutions for the improvement of youth mental health. Treatment and care, when accessible, treats the problem and not the causes. We believe there is a different approach – one that seeks to understand young people’s strengths, which we can draw on to improve mental health. This approach takes young people themselves as the starting point.


Aims and objectives

  1. Develop effective transdisciplinary, solution-focused partnerships with academics, policy makers, practitioners and young people across the UK
  2. Identify opportunities and challenges in youth mental health, set the agenda, and create research capacity
  3. Generate new, critical approaches to addressing the social, behavioural, organisational, environmental and cultural causes of mental health
  4. Undertake transdisciplinary co-production to develop, evaluate and implement effective and sustainable interventions to accelerate progress in improving youth mental health

Study Design

TRIUMPH has three research themes and cross-cutting work packages that are delivered with partners from across the UK.

Themes:

  1. Key groups (co-lead Rhiannon Evans)
  2. Social connections and relationships
  3. Schools and other education settings (co-lead Simon Murphy)

Work packages:

  1. Partnership agenda setting
  2. Intervention development and co-production
  3. Knowledge exchange and community engagement

More can be read about the themes and work packages on the TRIUMPH website.

Young people are central to the TRIUMPH Network. We are working with young people to facilitate their ideas, using a design innovation approach to turn these into reality, into new solutions to improve mental health. In addition, there will be opportunities to apply for funding through the TRIUMPH Network to take forward these research ideas and to support development of new solution focused approaches to improve youth mental health.


Network-funded research projects

Co-production or adaptation of online interventions for foster care: Promoting the mental health and wellbeing of care-experienced children and young people


Publications by TRIUMPH Network Management Team

Systematic review of economic evaluations of children’s social care interventions. El-Banna, A., Evans, R., et al. (February 2021). Children and Youth Services Review 121, article number: 105864. DOI: 10.1016/j.childyouth.2020.105864

Theorising health professionals’ prevention and management practices with children and young people experiencing self-harm: a qualitative hospital-based case study. MacDonald, S., Evans, R., et al. 2021.  Sociology of Health and Illness 43(1), pp. 201-219.  DOI: 10.1111/1467-9566.13211

Developing a whole-school mental health and wellbeing intervention through pragmatic formative process evaluation: A case-study of innovative local practice within the School Health Research Network
Gobat, N., Evans, R.,  Murphy, S. et al. 2021. BMC Public Health 21, article number: 154. (10.1186/s12889-020-10124-6)

Care-experienced cHildren and young people’s Interventions to improve Mental health and wEll-being outcomes: Systematic review (CHIMES) protocol
Evans, R., Boffey Maria., MacDonald Sarah., Jane Noyes Jane.,  Melendez-Torres G J., Morgan Helen E., Trubey Rob., Robling Michael., Willis Simone., Wooders Charlotte.
British Medical Journal, 2021


Articles on DECIPHer website:

Funding triumph for new DECIPHer-led project

A TRIUMPHant get together

First residential of Triumph Advisory Group


Start date

2018

End date

Ongoing

Funders

UKRI