Take Part in Our Study

Welcome, and thank you for your interest in our project! If interested, please contact the following the email:

contact@UCLVisibleCoSpace.com

We hope to learn more about how community centres and youth hubs may help or hinder your health support needs as a young person using youth spaces.

Why am I invited to take part?

You are invited to take part because you regularly visit a youth hub or community centre.

We want to learn from young people like you. This project helps us understand how we can support you on a healthy journey as well as other young people.

What does taking part involve/what it means to take part:

Taking part is voluntary and free. We run engaging workshops that are free to attend. We will provide snacks. By taking part, you will also receive a £30 voucher of your choosing as a thank you for helping us: A 40-minute 1-on-1 walk-through interview and group discussion with 3-4 other young people around your age about the community space, what works and what support you might need.
A psychoeducation workshop and survey (15 minutes) to learn about a topic of health that interests you, such as ‘How to cope with stress’ or ‘How can I sleep better?’ When learning about mental health, you will also have an opportunity to learn about your own health by completing short exercises and surveys about your feelings, behaviours, and thoughts. Your health data such as heart rate will also be collected via electronic wearable devices where appropriate.
Co-design resources to help share your ideas with more young people, policymakers, local authorities, and the public in May and July 2025 (2 hours maximum).

When taking part:

Remember, there are no right or wrong answers to our questions. You are the expert.
Our conversations will be in-person or online on Zoom, whichever is more comfortable for you. We will record and transcribe your ideas. No names will ever be attached to the text, and only you will know what you have said.
You can decide whether to take part or stop. We hope that if you choose to be involved, you will find this a valuable experience, gain new skills, and help us support other young people in the future!

Will anyone know I have been involved?

No, we do not tell others about your involvement unless you tell them. During the focus groups, however, other young people around the same age will be in your group, and they may know you. So, you will be reminded to only share what you’re comfortable with during this time and feedback on anything else privately through our surveys. Researchers will be there to help you as well.

Could there be problems for me if I take part?

We do not think there will be any problems from taking part in our project. We do ask questions about your thoughts, feelings, and behaviours, which may seem personal and sensitive. There are no right or wrong answers, so anything you come up with will be perfect. If you need additional help, UCL psychological services and UK mental health helplines and services will be available to you to access professional support.

What will happen to the results of the research?

The results will be analysed along with everyone else’s data. Results will be published in scientific journals and presented at conferences, accessible infographics and reports to stakeholders (e.g., teachers, students, parents, young people, and policymakers). Individual data will not be presented. Pseudonyms – meaning subject ID numbers and not your name – will be used to keep your data anonymous.

Only our research team will have access to the data. Your data will not be used for commercial purposes. The data will be encrypted, stored securely so that the data cannot be traced back to you. Data will be kept for at least 10 years from July 2024 in accordance with the UCL Research Data Repository Guidelines.

Data Protection Privacy Notice

The controller for this project will be University College London (UCL). The UCL Data Protection Officer (Alexandra Potts, data-protection@ucl.ac.uk) provides oversight of UCL activities involving the processing of personal data and can be contacted at data-protection@ucl.ac.uk. This ‘local’ privacy notice sets out the information that applies to this particular study. Further information on how UCL uses participant information from research studies can be found in our ‘general’ privacy notice for participants in research studies on “https://www.ucl.ac.uk/legal-services/privacy/ucl-general-research-participant-privacy-notice”. The information that is required to be provided to participants under data protection legislation (GDPR and DPA 2018) is provided across both the ‘local’ and ‘general’ privacy notices. The lawful basis that will be used to process any personal data is: ‘Public task’ for personal data and ’Research purposes’ for special category data. We will be collecting personal data such as Name/Email (for follow-up use and matching of data only), age, sex, and self-reported health levels.

Your personal data will be processed so long as it is required for the research project. If we are able to anonymise or pseudonymise the personal data you provide, we will undertake this and will endeavour to minimise the processing of personal data wherever possible. If you are concerned about how your personal data is being processed, or if you would like to contact us about your rights, please contact UCL in the first instance at data-protection@ucl.ac.uk. If you are concerned about how your personal data is being processed, or if you would like to contact us about your rights, please contact the principal investigator, Dr Keri Wong, in the first instance at keri.wong@ucl.ac.uk.

This project has been reviewed and approved by the UCL Research Ethics Committee REC 24253.001 with data protection number Z6364106/2024/08/160 social research.

Thank you!

Dr Keri Wong, Associate Professor of Psychology