We in the ComBAT team believe whole-heartedly in the importance and value of involving those who will be the end beneficiaries and users of our research in designing and developing that research so as to ensure that it best meets their needs.
The involvement of young people, parents/guardians, and health professionals in developing the content and structure of the Behavioural Activation intervention is a core element of ComBAT.
During the week commencing 1 November (2021) we held a series of small informal workshops with representatives from these three groups to gather their thoughts and suggestions. We consulted with them about the materials that we had developed so far, the week by week format of the intervention, and around how we would might most effectively deliver this within schools and other community settings.
The feedback that we received was extremely insightful and helpful, particularly around how to ensure that the young people taking part are not identified and singled out in school. The parents and professionals also rightly emphasised the importance of ensuring that there would be the possibility of further support at the end of the intervention for those young people who still needed it.
We were delighted that overall, everyone was very positive about the content and layout of the intervention manual, although there were some very good suggestions for improvement which we are already incorporating.
We would like to thank again all who took part and look forward to collaborating with them again, plus others who would like to join us, in the New Year.
If you would like to find out more about the project then please contact us at [email protected] or by telephoning 07385 430934.
A very productive first round of involvement and engagement
