Helping young people to bounce back from anxiety and depression: Leveraging socialsupport networks in the local community

年轻人中的焦虑和抑郁是常见的和使人丧失能力的，在大流行过程中对未来的持续不确定性可能会进一步增加病例数量。帮助有精神障碍的年轻人是英国政府的当务之急，以改善国家的健康和福祉。然而，情绪有困难的年轻人可能难以获得心理健康支持。年轻人可以在他们的社交网络中找到另一种或额外的支持来源。例如，社交处方计划通过当地组织提供一系列计划，年轻人可以在那里找到适合自己需求和偏好的活动，同时也有与其他人联系的重要机会。重要的是，社交处方可能是获得和参与年轻人服务的更可行的选择，因为年轻人的心理健康素养较低和耻辱使寻求帮助变得复杂。尽管有这种社会处方的潜力，但几乎没有框架来理解为什么这些计划有益于年轻人，以及它们的治疗好处是否在于塑造社会支持网络。关于它们在缓解患有焦虑/抑郁的青少年症状方面的可行性、可接受性和潜在有效性的数据也很少。我们建议通过与参与多机构集体(MAC)项目的社区组织和家庭合作来解决这些重要差距。MAC项目是一个社会处方计划，由伦敦纽汉区的HeadStart团队协调。为了更好地了解社交处方为什么有效，以及它是否通过加强社会支持而有效，我们将对社区组织代表(“联系工作者”)进行个人访谈和焦点小组，他们在这些项目中直接与年轻人合作。定性分析将探索不同方案在实践中的共性和差异，以确定变化的机制。为了评估社交处方的可行性和可接受性，以及它们在减轻患有焦虑和/或抑郁的青少年症状方面的潜力，我们将从参加互委会的100名青少年及其父母/照顾者那里连续收集信息。我们将记录符合条件的总人数、参与人数和完成安置的人数。为了评估可接受性，我们会让年轻人和他们的父母/照顾者完成一份问卷，重点是在控制症状方面的总体帮助、他们的乐趣、他们是否会推荐给朋友，以及他们喜欢/不喜欢的方面。为了评估减轻症状的有效性，每周将对20名年轻人进行焦虑/抑郁症状的调查。对这些数据的分析和建模将决定我们样本中症状在干预过程中有所改善的年轻人的比例。这些数据将为未来完善和评估青少年精神困扰的社会处方努力奠定基础。因此，持续参与传播是至关重要的。除了3份计划中的学术出版物外，我们还将制作一份非学术报告和信息图，向合作利益相关者、伦敦区纽汉市局长和英国公共卫生部门描述调查结果。

Anxiety and depression in young people are common and disabling, and the continueduncertainty about the future over the course of the pandemic may further increase thenumber of cases. Helping young people with mental distress is an urgent UK governmentpriority to improve the health and wellbeing of the nation going forward. However, youngpeople with emotional difficulties can struggle with accessing mental health support. Analternative or additional source of support that young people may be able to draw on can befound in their social networks. Exemplifying this, social prescribing schemes offer a range ofprogrammes through local organisations, where young people can identify activities that suittheir needs and preferences, while also having the crucial opportunity to connect with others.Importantly, social prescribing may be a more viable alternative to accessing and engagingwith services for young people where help-seeking is complicated by lower mental healthliteracy and stigma. Despite this potential of social prescribing, there are few frameworks forunderstanding why these schemes benefit young people and whether their therapeuticbenefits lie in shaping social support networks. There is also a paucity of data on theirfeasibility, acceptability, and potential effectiveness in reducing symptoms in youth withanxiety/depression. We propose to address these important gaps by working with community organisations andfamilies participating in the Multi-Agency Collective (MAC) project, a social prescribingscheme, coordinated by the HeadStart team in the London Borough of Newham. To better understand why social prescribing works and if it works by enhancing socialsupport, we will run a mixture of individual interviews and focus groups with communityorganisation representatives ("link workers") who work directly with young people in theseprogrammes. Qualitative analysis will explore commonalities and differences in practiceacross the different programmes, to identify mechanisms of change. To assess the feasibilityand acceptability of social prescribing and their potential in reducing symptoms for youngpeople with anxiety and/or depression, information will be gathered from a consecutiveseries of 100 young people and their parents/carers enrolled to the MAC. We will record thetotal numbers eligible, those who participate, and those who complete their placements. Toassess acceptability we will ask young people and their parents/carers to complete aquestionnaire, focusing on overall helpfulness in managing symptoms, their enjoyment,whether they would recommend it to a friend, and aspects they liked/disliked. To assesspotential effectiveness in reducing symptoms, a diverse subset of 20 young people will besurveyed weekly on anxiety/depression symptoms. Analysis and modelling of these data willdetermine the proportion of young people in our sample whose symptoms improve over thecourse of the intervention. These data will lay the ground work for future refinement and evaluation of social prescribingefforts for mental distress in young people. Therefore, continuous engagement indissemination is essential. In addition to 3 planned academic publications, we will produce anon-academic report and infographic describing the findings to partnering stakeholders,London Borough of Newham Directors and Public Health England.