What’s the project?
The purpose of the project is to understand the mental health experiences of young people with pre-existing mental health and neurodevelopmental conditions and their carers during the COVID-19 pandemic and the potential long term consequences resulting from the pandemic. Pre-existing mental health and neurodevelopmental conditions refers to young people who prior to the pandemic, already had difficulties with depression, anxiety, autism, ADHD, or other mental health or neurodevelopmental conditions.
This study specifically aims to:
1. Explore the experiences (both positive and negative) of the long-term mental health impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on young people with pre-existing mental health and neurodevelopmental conditions and their families.
2. Explore the interplay between mental health symptoms and experiences of the pandemic.
3. Identify the factors that play a role in how the pandemic affected young people’s mental health and its potentially knock-on effects.
A research team led by Brian Ching, at KCL are looking to interview children and young people with pre-existing mental health and neurodevelopmental conditions and their caregivers to help inform what they can do to protect and support young people’s mental health. This should inform policy for current and future pandemic responses.
Find out more
This project provides young people with an opportunity to speak about your pandemic experiences and contribute to research that aims to inform future policies to protect and support the mental health of young people in the current and future pandemics.
Your involvement would be participating in a one-off online interview (30-60 minutes). As participants, you will be asked questions about your experiences of the pandemic, mental health symptoms, and any potential long-term impact of the pandemic. The research team have currently completed 4 interviews and are looking to do 10-20 interviews with young people or caregivers in total.
- Must be based in the UK
- Young people who are 14-22 years old (in 2025) and/or their caregivers.
- Have struggled with mental health or neurodevelopmental difficulties before the pandemic (no need for formal diagnosis).
- Can complete an online interview (stable internet connection).
- Can complete a consent/assent form.
- Currently has no plans to hurt themselves.
Participants will be provided with £10 Amazon voucher to thank them for their time. Resources for immediate support will also be provided after the interview to all participants.
If you are interested in this opportunity, please email [email protected] with brief answers to the following questions:
- What is your name?
- What is your date of birth?
- Are you based in the UK?
- Do you have a pre-existing mental health and/or neurodevelopmental condition?
- How did you hear about this opportunity?
You are welcome to send your responses in audio or video format if preferred! If you need any help completing your expression of interest, you can get in touch with [email protected].
9am on Monday 28th April 2025.
Please note that the McPin Foundation regularly promotes opportunities on behalf of other institutions; we are not responsible for the continuation or contents of further correspondence with any project partners where we are not listed as the project main point of contact.
