Dr Sam Trethewey discusses his recent work with Matt Bakall, Space Youth Services and Dr Tamsin Newlove-Delgado, exploring how geographical barriers can affect the mental health of young people living in rural areas. Supported by our 2025-6 Engaged and Participatory Research Fund, this project drew directly on young people’s experiences, and the expertise of youth services.
Amount of award: £4000
This project focused on patient and public involvement and engagement (PPIE) in mental health research, specifically how rurality and deprivation affect the mental health of young people. Using funding from the Engaged & Participatory Research Fund, the project established a partnership between researchers, youth services across rural Devon, and young people, enabling young people to help shape a three-year programme of rural mental health research.
Specific engagement activities were designed to ensure that the voices and experiences of rural young people directly informed the development of future research, and included:
- Building relationships with youth workers and young people via three rural youth centres.
- Organising and running multiple drop-in research engagement sessions.
- Developing and distributing an online survey to improve accessibility and reach.
- Running a focused workshop with young people to explore research priorities, methods and study design.
- Co-developing engagement materials, information sheets and governance processes to support future involvement work.
This project strengthened the quality and relevance of the wider research by providing direct insight into the experiences, priorities and concerns of young people in rural areas. It increased understanding of issues and research priorities such as rural isolation and transport barriers, as well as stigma, access to support, and the impact of digital technologies on mental health. The engagement also informed approaches to future research, including recruitment strategies, study design and research questions.
Young people benefited by having a meaningful opportunity to share their views and influence research that may ultimately impact services and support.
Broader benefits included the creation of a new partnership between the University of Exeter and local youth services, informed by the valuable practical expertise of youth workers. This project also supported the development of an improved governance framework for engagement activities, and increased the public accessibility and impact of mental health research.
The biggest challenge of the project was engaging young people across diverse rural settings while balancing flexibility, safeguarding, and differing local contexts. This was addressed through the cultivation of strong relationships with youth workers, adapting approaches to each setting, and allowing engagement activities to remain informal and youth-centred where appropriate. Another challenge was navigating administrative and financial processes associated with managing the award. This was overcome through support from project partners and the University’s Public Engagement team.
A key lesson, therefore, was that relationship building is fundamental to successful engagement. Informal visits, listening to participants, using flexible approaches, and working alongside trusted youth workers helped establish trust and generate richer discussions. The next step is to build on the relationships established through this project by continuing to use these approaches, and involve young people and youth workers throughout future research. Planned activities include further workshops, co-design of study materials, involvement in interpreting findings, and the co-production of outputs such as infographics, posters and podcasts. The current work has provided a strong foundation for a wider programme of rural mental health research, ensuring that future studies are grounded in lived experience and informed by those most affected. We will also seek additional funding to sustain engagement activities and expand opportunities for collaboration.
In the longer term, these activities are expected to improve the relevance, quality and impact of research, while helping to ensure that evidence better informs mental health services, policy and support for young people in rural communities.