Exploring similarities and differences in how researchers and young people understand key terms in youth mental-health research

Abstract

A lack of a shared understanding of key terms is acknowledged as a significant barrier to interdisciplinary research. This paper examines the ways in which a broadly interdisciplinary team of academics and youth co-researchers involved in mental health research interpreted a number of research and mental health terms that are central to their work in order to understand conceptual differences in how different stakeholder groups approach these terms. Data was collected in four phases (interviews, written responses, and two participatory ‘living labs’) and was analysed using reflexive thematic analysis. Results revealed a wide disparity in the way participants understood key terms (including: ‘research’, ‘data’, ‘loneliness’, ‘safe space’ and ‘resilience’). Our study highlights the need for more inclusive approaches to mental health research, where diverse perspectives and lived experiences inform both methodology and practice from the outset. In conclusion we suggest a new framework (the EQUITY framework) as a tool to operationalise these findings.

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Item Type:	Article
Authors/Creators:	Duara, R. Pavlopoulou, G. Hugh-Jones, S. Shaughnessy, N. Herbert, R. Baker, S. Williams, E. Sonuga-Barke, E. Bhui, K. Mankee-Williams, A. Cooke, P.
Copyright, Publisher and Additional Information:	© The Author(s) 2025. This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article’s Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article’s Creative Commons licence and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this licence, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/.
Dates:	Accepted: 20 August 2025 Published (online): 29 September 2025 Published: 29 September 2025
Institution:	The University of Leeds
Academic Units:	The University of Leeds > Faculty of Medicine and Health (Leeds) > School of Psychology (Leeds)
Funding Information:	Funder Grant number MRC (Medical Research Council) MR/X003116/1
Date Deposited:	28 Aug 2025 09:51
Last Modified:	29 Oct 2025 14:46
Status:	Published
Publisher:	Springer Nature
Identification Number:	10.1057/s41599-025-05809-5
Open Archives Initiative ID (OAI ID):	oai:eprints.whiterose.ac.uk:230870

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Exploring similarities and differences in how researchers and young people understand key terms in youth mental-health research

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