A blog for the Children, young people and families newsletter by Ruth Kipping, Lorna Hatch, Laura Tinner, Cecilia Khofi-Szeremley, Cat Holt and Andy Mahon.
The Centre for Public Health at Bristol University conducts world leading public health research into the health of the population with the aim of promoting and protecting health and well-being, preventing ill-health and reducing health inequities.
Our work covers a range of policy topics including obesity, physical activity, nutrition, sexual health, mental health and well-being, tobacco, alcohol and drugs misuse.
CYPF research with the SPHR
The Centre for Public Health has been part of the SPHR since 2012 and we have been involved in a wide range of CYPF research studies since our involvement in the School. We are delighted to be collaborating with SPHR colleagues on the following projects:
Developing a best practice framework for the Holiday Activities and Food Programme
The Holiday Activities and Food programme is a government funded initiative which holds great promise to support families experiencing food insecurity and make a positive impact on their health. However, there is variation in models and quality of provision across England, as well as challenges around engagement and attendance. This project aims to examine the ways the programme is being interpreted and implemented, and how this affects reach and success. It will use creative methods to elucidate barriers to attendance, as well as determine what best practice looks like for different settings and how this can be adapted to different contexts across England.
CYPF cross-programme research
- Maximising informal volunteering as a community resource to support the mental health and wellbeing of adults across the life course
- Supporting educational and youth organisations to deliver self-harm and suicide prevention and postvention: a mixed methods study and co-produced guidance
- Long-term evaluation and modelling of the effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of whole-school public mental health interventions
- Understanding variation in English local authority policies for the restriction of harmful commodities advertising and sponsorship: co-creation of a detailed typology and protocol for non-experimental evaluation. This project has some overlap with the CYPF programme and is due to start on April 2024.
Capacity building and PhD Studentships
We are delighted to support students and fellows who are working on CYPF research areas. Below are highlights of the work of two fellows and two PhD students.
Laura Tinner, Post-doctoral Fellow
Laura’s fellowship has allowed her to develop a competitive Wellcome Early Career Award application on young people’s mental health inequalities. She has been finishing several papers from previous projects within the Scottish Government and the Centre for Public Health across a range of topics, all with a focus on young people. Laura is currently working on the Holiday Activities and Food project with colleagues across the School, offering qualitative data analysis support and policy engagement expertise. The aim of Laura’s fellowship is to leave with further methodological and topic expertise to enable her to take up an advanced fellowship with a focus on young people’s health inequalities.
Cecilia Khofi-Szeremley, Pre-doctoral Fellow
Cecilia’s fellowship has helped her enhance her research methodology skills as well as PIE skills, whilst developing her PhD area of interest. She has worked on our university lead project aimed at evaluating the Bristol Advertising and Sponsorship Policy, where she contributed to data coding. She is now currently working on the Holiday Activities and Food program project, supporting recruitment, qualitative data collection and analysis, as well as dissemination. Cecilia is also currently doing her placement with Somerset council, offering support on one of the council’s food intervention service evaluation. She aims to further develop her methodological skills and expertise and plans to apply for a doctoral fellowship before completing her fellowship.
Cat Holt, PhD summary
Exploring and responding to food insecurity in preschool children in Somerset
As the cost-of-living crisis continues, inflation for food is rising at the fastest rate in over 45 years. Cat’s PhD aims to explore and respond to food insecurity in preschool aged children. Cat’s project is co-funded by Somerset Council and the research aims to delve into both the impacts and what can be done to prevent and alleviate food insecurity within the rural landscape. At present, Cat is working on a systematic review that explores the impact of UK interventions designed to improve food security for children, families with children and pregnant women. This will allow for a broad understanding of what has been implemented previously, which food insecurity dimensions are commonly targeted and the features of successful interventions, with the concluding aim for the results to inform the future design and implementation of an intervention to alleviate food insecurity in Somerset.
Andy Mahon, PhD summary
The mental health of young people attending colleges of further education: Identifying strategies for improvement and support via physical activity
There has been an increase in prevalence of mental health problems in young people aged 16 to 19, and colleges have reported rising rates of mental health disorders among their student populations in recent years. Andy’s PhD project, co-funded by Somerset Council, aims to examine the drivers of poor mental health within this age group and links to physical activity, and how physical activity interventions could improve and support these issues within education settings. Currently, the focus of the PhD is on mapping the available research and evidence on physical activity interventions designed to support the mental health of this age group. The findings of which will guide future research within the project, likely qualitative research with relevant young people, college staff and other stakeholders. The ultimate aim is to then use these findings to inform the development of a physical activity-based intervention in collaboration with relevant stakeholders, to support the mental health of young people.
Contact us
If you have are interested in our research from an academic, policy or practice perspective please do get in touch by emailing: phs-cph@bristol.ac.uk and explore our work further on our website.
Follow @BristolUniCPH on twitter/X for updates about our work.
