Research and innovation for and with adolescent young carers to influence policy and practice : the European Union funded "ME-WE" project

Hanson, Elizabeth (author), Hlebec, Valentina (author), Bolko, Irena (author)

Young carers are children and adolescents who provide care to other family members or friends, taking over responsibilities that are usually associated with adulthood. There is emerging but still scarce knowledge worldwide about the phenomenon of young carers and the impact of a caring role on their health, social and personal development spheres. This paper provides an overview of the main results from the ME-WE project, which is the first European research and innovation project dedicated to adolescent young carers (AYCs) (15–17 years). The project methods relied on three main activities: (1) a systematization of knowledge (by means of a survey to AYCs, country case studies, Delphi study, literature review); (2) the co-design, implementation and evaluation of a primary prevention intervention addressing AYCs’ mental health (by means of Blended Learning Networks and a clinical trial in six European countries); (3) the implementation of knowledge translation actions for dissemination, awareness, advocacy and lobbying (by means of national and international stakeholder networks, as well as traditional and new media). Project results substantially contributed to a better understanding of AYCs’ conditions, needs and preferences, defined tailored support intervention (resilient to COVID-19 related restrictions), and significant improvements in national and European policies for AYCs.

• Language: English
• Keywords: informal care, adolescent young carers, primary prevention
• Work type: Article
• Typology: 1.01 - Original Scientific Article
• Organization: FDV - Faculty of Social Sciences
• Publication status: Published
• Publication version: Version of Record
• Publication date: 11.08.2022
• Year: 2022
• Number of pages: Str. 1-33
• Numbering: Vol. 19, no. 16
• PID: 20.500.12556/RUL-138764
• UDC: 364-47-053.6
• ISSN on article: 1660-4601
• DOI: 10.3390/ijerph19169932
• COBISS.SI-ID: 118290435
• Publication date in RUL: 16.08.2022

Record is a part of a journal

• Title: International journal of environmental research and public health
• Shortened title: Int. j. environ. res. public health
• Publisher: MDPI
• ISSN: 1660-4601
• COBISS.SI-ID: 1818965

Licences

• License: CC BY 4.0, Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International
• Link: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
• Description: This is the standard Creative Commons license that gives others maximum freedom to do what they want with the work as long as they credit the author.
• Licensing start date: 16.08.2022

Projects

• Funder: EC - European Commission
• Funding programme: European Commission
• Project number: 754702
• Name: Psychosocial Support for Promoting Mental Health and Well-being among Adolescent Young Carers in Europe
• Acronym: ME-WE