News

Dr Zoë Haime has written a blog post for the Association for Child and Adolescent Mental Health (ACAMH). Zoë’s blog focuses on what University of Bristol research has taught us about talking to young people about their online use and mental health. She also highlights some ongoing research – the ‘digital dialogues’ project, led by Dr Lucy Biddle, which aims to identity knowledge gaps, and co-create training and resources to help mental health practitioners have these conversations with young people

Zoë says “Recently, The Royal College of the Psychiatrists in the UK advised that social media and online use should be considered in assessing risk of all young people they meet (RCPsych Report CR225, 2020). However, it is currently unclear whether this advice has been implemented in practice. Additionally, there is little evidence of guidance on how to approach these conversations with young people, or of similar direction for other mental health practitioners, teachers or parents.”

Click here to read the full ACAMH blog post

Click here for further information and guidance on how to talk about mental health and digital technology with young people

Despite growing numbers of university students reporting mental health challenges during their studies, there is still limited longitudinal data concerned with student wellbeing in the UK. SASH members Drs Jacks Bennett and Myles Jay Linton have been involved in a SMARTEN funded project developing sector guidance for universities looking to develop cohort studies.  See the research behind this new national ‘toolkit’ of standardised measures here

We were delighted to host Dr Nanette Lee Mayol who is the Director and a Research Fellow of the USC-Office of Population Studies Foundation, Inc., University of San Carlos, Cebu City, Philippines. Nanette is a GW4 co-supervisor for SASH member Lucy Barrass. Nanette met with several members of the team and we’re excited to be exploring potential opportunities for future collaborations using the rich longitudinal data that her team collects.

Dr Jacks Bennett has been awarded an ESRC postdoctoral fellowship to continue her work focused on student mental health and wellbeing in university settings. The year-long post which starts in October 2023 will allow her to build on her doctoral research evaluating the impact of new wellbeing support provision at a UK university – one of the first health studies of its kind in higher education. Jacks aims to extend that research to examine the links between differing demographics and social factors for student mental health and academic outcomes. The fellowship means Jacks can also strengthen existing collaborations with SMARTEN researchers working in the student wellbeing field, building on the mental health measurement work already underway.

Dr Lizzy Winstone has been awarded a Fellowship from the Churchill Foundation to continue her work on the relationship between social media and mental health. Lizzy’s fellowship will focus on improving teaching of social media algorithmic literacy in UK schools in order to reduce exposure to harmful (self-harm and suicide-related) social media content. During this 6-week project, she will meet with and interview international experts in social media algorithmic literacy and media literacy education from several countries, to learn from best practice overseas and influence change in the UK

Bruna Rubbo joined the University of Bristol as a Research Fellow funded by the Centre for Pesticide Suicide Prevention at the University of Edinburgh. She obtained a PhD in Clinical Epidemiology at the University of Southampton in 2020, where she continued to work as a research fellow before relocating to the University of Southern California for a postdoctoral scholarship investigating the effects of pesticide exposure on weight loss in obese adolescents.

Bruna is now working on multiple projects focused on the effects of changes in pesticide regulation and national bans on the overall and pesticide suicide rates in low- and middle-income countries. She was particularly interested in this line of research as “having previously conducted research that had potential clinical applications, this position provides me the unique opportunity to contribute to epidemiological studies that, in addition to clinical impact, also have direct policy implications, and these could lead to the prevention of numerous suicides worldwide.”