Edge Hill University
Beyond the word count: The hidden labour of researchers conducting evaluations of school-based (mental) health literacy programmes
Schools are popular settings for the promotion of positive health and mental health, and the prevention of poor health and mental health. In turn, this has led to an increase in externally delivered school-based health and mental health literacy programmes, often with the necessity to evaluate such programmes as a requirement of successfully awarded funding which must evidence impacts to health, education and learning outcomes. However, the dynamics and unpredictable nature of any school day, plus the competing priorities of school staff, can present challenges and make these settings difficult to work and research with and within. Here, we offer our reflections and insights derived from our qualitative research experiences of evaluating externally delivered school-based health and mental health literacy programmes in north-west England, where many of the schools were in communities with a higher than England average prevalence of poor physical and mental health.
Drawing upon our experiences from a combined total of 110 focus groups across both primary and secondary schools, alongside our research diaries and discussions together, we explore two topics, namely: (i) researcher identity and building relationships, and (ii) the practicalities of qualitative data collection in schools: time and space. We aim to illustrate the often unseen, unheard effort involved in generating data, and bring depth to concepts such as, identity, building rapport, and being flexible and adaptable. We hope that the insights from our reflections encourage further critical conversations about, and publications of, methodological experiences in school-based research.