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Abstract
Background: Providing digital mental health interventions online could expand access to help for young people, but requiring parental consent may be a barrier to participation. We therefore need a method that enables young people <16 years old (ie, presumed competent in the UK) to demonstrate Gillick Competence (understanding of purpose, process, potential benefits and potential harms) to self-consent to online, anonymous, low-risk studies.
Aim: To explore whether a new method for assessing Gillick Competence to participate in low-risk, anonymous online studies is acceptable to both young people and parents.
Methods: We interviewed 15 young people aged 13-5 years and 12 parents of this age group in the UK. Using a qualitative approach, we explored the acceptability of a series of multiple-choice questions (MCQs) designed to assess understanding of a specific online self-help research study testing a self-kindness intervention.
Results: The MCQ answers that participants gave mostly corresponded with their narrative explanations of their understanding during interviews. Young people and parents thought that the process was empowering and could increase access to research while also promoting independence. However, they emphasised the importance of individual differences and different research contexts and highlighted the need for safeguards to be in place.
Conclusions: The MCQs were acceptable to both young people and parents, providing preliminary evidence for the potential of this process for allowing <16s to self-consent to online, anonymous, low-risk mental health research. Further research is needed to validate the effectiveness of this process among a diverse range of populations and research contexts.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Article number | e090747 |
| Journal | BMJ Open |
| Volume | 15 |
| Issue number | 3 |
| Early online date | 4 Mar 2025 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - 4 Mar 2025 |
Data Availability Statement
The data that support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author, MEL, upon reasonable request.Acknowledgements
The authors would like to thank Dr Chris Ashwin for his helpful ideas about this study at the outset, Beatrice Sung for her help with social media recruitment, and Karen Ma, Lucy Kelly, Elyse Mok and Shanaya Kashyap for their help with the initial literature review and transcription. We also particularly value the feedback and suggestions from the peer reviewers and handling editor for BMJ Open who helped us to improve our manuscript.Funding
MEL (Advanced Fellowship 302929) is funded by the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) for this research project. The views expressed in this publication are those of the author(s) and not necessarily those of the NIHR, NHS or the UK Department of Health and Social Care.
| Funders | Funder number |
|---|---|
| National Institute for Health and Care Research | |
| Department of Health and Social Care |
Keywords
- Adolescent
- Child
- Parents
- QUALITATIVE RESEARCH
- Research Design
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- General Medicine
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Improving access to timely evidence-based help for youth mental health using single session interventions
Loades, M. (PI)
National Institute for Health Research
1/05/23 → 30/11/28
Project: Central government, health and local authorities