lessons learned from the ME-WE Project
Francesco Barbabella (Author), Lennart Magnusson (Author), Licia Boccaletti (Author), Giulia Casu (Author), Valentina Hlebec (Author), Irena Bolko (Author), Feylyn Mercedies Lewis (Author), Sara Santini (Author), Agnes Leu (Author), Elena Guggiari (Author), Saul Becker (Author), Elizabeth Hanson (Author)

Abstract

Young carers provide a substantial amount of care to family members and support to friends, yet their situation has not been actively addressed in research and policy in many European countries or indeed globally. Awareness of their situation by professionals and among children and young carers themselves remains low overall. Thus, young carers remain a largely hidden group within society. This study reports and analyses the recruitment process in a multi-centre intervention study offering psychosocial support to adolescent young carers (AYCs) aged 15–17 years. A cluster- randomised controlled trial was designed, with recruitment taking place in Italy, the Netherlands, Slovenia, Sweden, Switzerland and the United Kingdom exploiting various channels, including partnerships with schools, health and social services and carers organisations. In total, 478 AYCs were recruited and, after screening failures, withdrawals and initial dropouts, 217 were enrolled and started the intervention. Challenges encountered in reaching, recruiting and retaining AYCs included low levels of awareness among AYCs, a low willingness to participate in study activities, uncertainty about the prevalence of AYCs, a limited school capacity to support the recruitment; COVID-19 spreading in 2020–2021 and related restrictions. Based on this experience, recommendations are put forward for how to better engage AYCs in research.

Keywords

young carers;adolescent young carers;recruitment;co-design;psychosocial support;cluster-randomised controlled trial;intervention study;

Data

Language: English
Year of publishing:
Typology: 1.01 - Original Scientific Article
Organization: UL FDV - Faculty of Social Sciences
UDC: 364-47-053.6
COBISS: 145119235 Link will open in a new window
ISSN: 1660-4601
Views: 9
Downloads: 4
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Other data

Secondary language: Slovenian
Secondary keywords: Dolgotrajna oskrba;Najstniki;Socialna psihologija;Covid-19;Evropa;
Type (COBISS): Article
Pages: str. 1-20
Volume: ǂVol. ǂ20
Issue: ǂissue ǂ6, [article no.] 5074
Chronology: Mar. 2023
DOI: 10.3390/ijerph20065074
ID: 18264588
Recommended works:
, lessons learned from the ME-WE Project
, no subtitle data available
, ǂthe ǂEuropean Union funded "ME-WE" project
, results of the European Union funded “ME-WE” online survey study on adolescent young carers in Switzerland
, ǂan ǂumbrella review of intervention studies