Doing Mental Health Research with Children and Adolescents

Book excerpt: Researching child and adolescent mental health can be a daunting task, but with the right practical skills and knowledge your students can transform the way they work with children and young people, giving them a ‘voice’ through their research in the wider community. Michelle O′Reilly and Nikki Parker combine their clinical, academic and research expertise to take your students step-by-step through each stage of the research process. From first inception to data collection and dissemination, they’ll guide them through the key issues faced when undertaking their research, highlighting the dilemmas, challenges and debates, and exploring the important questions asked when doing research with this population. Providing practical advice and strategies for dealing with the reality of conducting research in practice, this book will; - Provide your students with an overview of the theories that underpin methodological choice and the value of using qualitative research. - Guide them through the planning stage of your project, clearly outlining important ethical and legal issues. - Take them through the most popular qualitative data collection techniques and support them with their analysis. - Help them write up their findings and demonstrate how research evidence translates into effective clinical practice. Supported by helpful hints and tips, case examples and definitions of key terms, this highly practical and accessible guide throws a lifebelt to any students or mental health practitioner learning about the research process for the first time.