Young people’s experience of visiting their GP: Summary of our publication in the Journal of Adolescent Health

Our recent publication is based on a collaborative project between researchers and practitioners to explore the health measures associated with young people’s use of general practitioner (GP) services in England. The findings have been published in the Journal of Adolescent Health in a paper entitled “Experience of primary care services among early adolescents in England and association with health measures”.

There is a gap in knowledge surrounding young people’s experience of GP services in England, with national surveys limited to capturing the experience of patients aged 18 years and over¹. For that reason, questions on young people’s use of GP services were added to the 2014 HBSC England survey. The survey initially asks a question on service use – identifying whether young people have had visited their GP in the last year. This is followed up with a number of questions which concern young people’s experience of their last visit to their GP (Figure 1). 

Figure 1. Questions measuring GP service use in the 2014 HBSC England survey

The majority (80%) of young people said they had visited their GP in the last year. Respondents reported a largely positive experience of GP service use; 75% of respondents felt at ease with the GP during their last visit, 89% felt their GP treated them with respect from GP and 83% reported they were satisfied with the explanations their GP provided. However, only just over half (52%) of respondents stated they felt comfortable talking to their GP about personal things, a finding which seemed fairly consistent across gender and age (Figure 2). The 2014 HBSC England national report provides a comprehensive account of data on GP service use².

 Figure 2. Young people who reported they were able to talk to their GP about personal things, by age and gender (graph originates from Brooks et al. 2015)

One of the aims of our recent analysis sought to explore whether young people’s perception of GP visits is related to different health measures; is poor experience of GP service use associated with worse reports of emotional wellbeing and physical health? The paper examined five health measures: headaches, sleeping problems, low mood, general self-rated health and self-harm (among 15 year olds only).

The analysis focussed on the 80% (4149) young people who reported visiting their GP in the last year. Binary logistic regression identified respondents who reported poor GP experience were more likely to report poor health measures, whilst controlling for ethnicity, age, gender and family affluence. For example, poor ratings on all indicators of GP experience (Figure 1) were significantly associated with an increased risk of self-harm, feeling low and sleep problems among young people.

The data collected through HBSC surveys is cross-sectional and as such we cannot determine the direction of this relationship. Having poor health may result in a more negative perception of GP services, or it could be that a poor perception of GP services influences young people’s health through disengagement and a reduction in use of health care services.

The findings highlight the important role GPs may play in young people’s health and wellbeing, and emphasise the need for health care services to be understanding of the different skills required for working with young people.

For a through discussion of our findings the full paper can be accessed by clicking here.

References

1. Ipsos_Mori (2016). GP Patient Survey - National summary report. NHS England. Retrieved October, 12, 2016 from http://gp-survey production.s3.amazonaws.com/archive/2016/July/July2016NationalSummaryReport.pdf 

1. Brooks, F., Magnusson, J., Klemera, E., Chester, K., Spencer, N., & Smeeton, N. (2015). HBSC England national report: Findings from the 2014 HBSC study for England. Hatfield, UK: University of Hertfordshire. Retrieved October, 12, 2016 from http://www.hbscengland.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/National-Report-2015.pdf

The Teacher Connectedness Project

The Teacher Connectedness Project started on 4^th July 2016 and represents a very exciting collaboration between the HBSC Spain and HBSC England teams. During the next 2 years, the Teacher Connectedness Project team will work to get a better understanding of relationships between young people and their teachers and how they can improve young people’s wellbeing.

But what does connectedness mean and why should we pay attention to it? Connectedness comes from the word ‘connection’ and therefore we used the term teacher connectedness to refer to meaningful relationships with teachers. Previous research shows that supportive and trusting relationships with teachers have very positive effects on young people’s wellbeing in and outside the school ^1,2. In an earlier study we found that teacher connectedness is very important for the emotional wellbeing of both Spanish and English adolescents of all ages and regardless of how well or not so well they thought they did at school³ (read our earlier blog post for a summary). Unfortunately, research also shows that relationships with teachers tend to become more distant during secondary school – HBSC data below can serve to illustrate this.

Figure 1. Percentage of adolescents who agree or strongly agree with the statement "teachers care about me as a person".

Source: HBSC England and HBSC Spain, 2014

In the Teacher Connectedness Project, we want to know more about what the key ingredients are that make it possible to establish and maintain meaningful student-teacher connections.

And because nobody can know better about teacher-student relationships than teachers and students themselves we are looking forward to having the opportunity to hear from them directly. We will be going to schools in Hertfordshire to have chats with groups of young people and interviews with their teachers from January 2017 onwards, so any local secondary school that want to share their views with us is more than welcome. Just let us know!

If you’d like, you can find further information about the project and its team at our website. You can also follow us on Twitter @TeachConProject to keep track of all the new findings and activities linked to the Teacher Connectedness Project.

Teachers, students, your views and feedback are very much appreciated!

1.  Kidger, J., Araya, R., Donovab, J., & Gunnel, D. (2012). The effect of the school environment on the emotional health of adolescents: A systematic review. Pediatrics 129(5): 925-949. DOI: 10.1542/peds.2011-2248

2. Shochet, I. M., Dadds, M. R., Ham, D. & Montague, R. (2006). School connectedness is an underemphasized parameter in adolescent mental health: Results of a community prediction study. Journal of Clinical Child and Adolescent Psychology 35(2): 170-179. doi: 10.1207/s15374424jccp3502_1

3. García-Moya, I., Brooks, F., Morgan, A., & Moreno, C. (2015). Subjective well-being in adolescence and teacher connectedness. A health asset analysis. Health Education Journal, 74(6), 641-654. doi: 10.1177/0017896914555039.

                                                                       

A Nuffield Foundation placement student joined HBSC England

During summer 2016 the Centre for Research in Primary and Community Care (CRIPACC) at the University of Hertfordshire hosted two Nuffield Foundation research placements. Nuffield Foundation placements are awarded to gifted and talented students who have just finished their AS levels and are interested in pursuing careers in STEMM subjects. The placement allows the student to undertake an independent research project. La-Dantai joined the HBSC England team to conduct her research project on self-harm in adolescence, while Umme's research evaluated online dietary information available for people with type 2 diabetes.

We are pleased to report that both La-Dantai and Umme were awarded Gold Crest 1 awards for their independent research projects. Many congratulations to both of them! 

La-Dantai has written the following blog post reflecting on her time in the department...

I would first like to start by showing a great appreciation towards everybody in the CRIPACC department of the University of Hertfordshire. Not only were they really welcoming, but they also offered a hand whenever I required a little bit of help to make this project even better

My project included research into associated factors with self-harming in adolescence, this involved identifying both protective and risk factors, as well as using the HBSC survey that is produced nationally to gather data.

Immediately I was introduced to new concepts, such as a literature search - it may sound easy, but there are a few minute details that you must really remember to find the best sources of literature - and literature reviews. Thankfully my mentor was extremely helpful when she saw me struggling and, after helping, set up for me to have a meeting with someone who could show me in the in’s and out’s of literature reviews.

After that, reviewing and structuring my report was fairly easy. There was a hiccup when I was required to process the data, as the program that University of Hertfordshire uses in this department to analyse data, I hadn’t used before. Again, my mentor was very helpful and took me through step by step on how to get the most accurate and reliable results from the data.

The placement, which took place over 4 weeks in the summer, was a very informative and fun experience. Not only was there a picnic within the department - I was super happy about that - but it exposed me to what research is, how aims and hypothesises are produced, the work required to find literature to support or disprove a statement. It gave me a look into what being a researcher is and has contributed towards my decision on the degree I wish to do.

These skills I have gained - the ability to literature search, to analyse data with great accuracy, being able to produce a standardised method to carry out research to form reliable results and writing a report (the most important one!) - will be ever so important in University.

I am very grateful for the testing of my time management skills by having to be on time every morning and complete tasks by a specific time and date - for example, meetings with my mentor would be planned and a specific task such as my introduction would have to be completed by then.

Alongside this, my organisational skills and communication skills were tested, it was important to be clear when asking a question and important to write fluently, as well as have all my information designated to a specific folder in order to not get confused!

The placement has contributed to my development by testing my abilities and proving that I am capable of anything new if I put my mind to it. I am very grateful for that.

 

CRIPACC has hosted a number of Nuffield Foundation placements since 2013. Chelsea, Marium and Susanna have each written a blog post about their placements during summer 2015.

Cyberbullying: Summary of our publication in Youth & Society

We have recently published a paper titled “The mitigating role of ecological health assets in adolescent cyberbullying victimization” in Youth & Society.

Cyberbullying can be defined as bullying which take place in the virtual world (for example via messaging services, social networking sites, emails and gaming websites), and can include a number of behaviours such as sending abusive messages, posting embarrassing or altered photographs, purposely excluding people from online groups and setting up fake online profiles¹.

Cyberbullying has been shown to have a detrimental effect on young people’s health and wellbeing and their social outcomes. Young people who are cyberbullied are more likely to experience depression, anxiety, feelings of loneliness and low self-esteem^2,3; research has also identified a link between being cyberbullied and poorer outcomes at school³.

Questions to measure cyberbullying were first added to the HBSC survey in 2014. You can read our previous blog post which describes why cyberbullying warranted attention in the HBSC study by clicking here. Cyberbullying was measured by two questions which addressed different forms of cyberbullying (Figure 1).

Figure 1. Questions measuring cyberbullying in the 2014 HBSC survey

The prevalence of cyberbullying, and bullying more broadly, has been reported extensively in the 2014 HBSC England national report⁴.  Of the young people who participated in the 2014 HBSC survey in England, 18% reporting experiencing some form of cyberbullying in the past two months. Reporting cyberbullying was more common among girls than boys, and the likelihood of being victimised in this was appeared to increase with age for all young people (Figure 2).

Figure 2. Prevalence of cyberbullying (graph original published in Brooks et al. (2015))

Traditionally the health and wellbeing of young people has been approached from a deficit perspective; this approach asks why young people are ill and has often focussed on risk factors such as substance use⁵.  However more recently asset based approaches have begun to emerge; asking what makes young people healthy and identifying protective factors which sustain health⁶. The HBSC England team are keen to take a positive rather the deficit approach to young people’s health.

The data collected from the HBSC study is ideal for approaching health in this manner as it situates young people’s health in its social context, with the HBSC England survey asking young people about their family, friends, peers, school and neighbourhood. Work from the research team has explored protective factors of young people’s health in relation to risk behaviours⁷, body image⁸ and self-harm⁹. (Check out our recent blog post summarising our self-harm publication by clicking here).

Our latest paper on cyberbullying uses a similar positive perspective, and sought to identify elements from the different domains in young people’s lives, including family, school and neighbourhood, which may protect against cyberbullying.

The analysis highlighted eight key factors which were associated with cyberbullying. Factors were identified at the individual level (gender, age, autonomy), family (family affluence, family communication), school (sense of belonging to school, teacher support) and neighbourhood environments (perception of local area). Unlike the more traditional forms of bullying which are often restricted to the school grounds cyberbullying can continue beyond the school environment and school hours. Despite this, our recent paper emphasises the important role the school may play in preventing cyberbullying; young people who reported positive perceptions of the school environment and supportive teacher-student relationships were significantly less likely to say they had been cyberbullied.

The full paper can be found by clicking here. If you are interested in the topic of bullying you may also like to read our international collaborative paper presenting cross-cultural trends in bullying victimization between 2002-2010 by clicking here.  

References

1.    Bullying UK. What is cyberbullying? Retrieved October, 12, 2016 from http://www.bullying.co.uk/cyberbullying/what-is-cyberbullying/ 

2.    Wang, J., Nansel, T. R., & Iannotti, R. J. (2011). Cyber and traditional bullying: Differential association with depression. Journal of Adolescent Health, 48(4), 415–417.

3.    Tsitsika, A., Janikian, M., Wójcik, S., Makaruk, K., Tzavela, E., Tzavara, C., … Richardson, C. (2015). Cyberbullying victimization prevalence and associations with internalizing and externalizing problems among adolescents in six European countries. Computers in Human Behavior, 51, 1–7.

4.   Brooks, F., Magnusson, J., Klemera, E., Chester, K., Spencer, N., & Smeeton, N. (2015). HBSC England national report: Findings from the 2014 HBSC study for England. Hatfield, UK: University of Hertfordshire. Retrieved October, 12, 2016 from http://www.hbscengland.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/National-Report-2015.pdf

5.   Department of Health. 92010). Health lives, healthy people: our strategy for public health in England. Retrieved October, 12, 216 from https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/216096/dh_127424.pdf

6.   Whiting, L., Kendall, S., & Wills, W. (2012). An asset-based approach: An alternative health promotion strategy? Community Practitioner, 85(1), 25–28.

7.   Brooks, F., Magnusson, J., Spencer, N., & Morgan, A. (2012). Adolescent multiple risk behaviour: An asset approach to the role of family, school and community. Journal of Public Health, 34(S1), 48–56

8.   Fenton, C., Brooks, F., Spencer, N. H., & Morgan, A. (2010). Sustaining a positive body image in adolescence: An assets-based analysis. Health and Social Care in the Community, 18(2), 189–198.

9.   Klemera, E., Brooks, F. M., Chester, K. L., Magnusson, J., & Spencer, N. (2016). Self-harm in adolescence: protective health assets in the family, school and community. International Journal of Public Health. doi:10.1007/s00038-016-0900-2

Adolescent self-harm: Summary of our publication in the International Journal of Public Health

We have recently published an article in the International Journal of Public Health entitled “Self-harm in adolescence: protective health assets in the family, school and community".

Self-harm can be defined as the act of deliberately causing harm to oneself, and may include a number of behaviours such as cutting, burning, hitting, scratching and self-poisoning¹. The behaviour is thought to be most common among teenagers², and self-harming during adolescence has been associated with an increased risk of mental health problems in adulthood³.

Questions on self-harm were added to the HBSC England survey for the first time in 2014, motivated by reports poor emotional wellbeing and self-harm were on the increase among young people^4,5. Furthermore, a review conducted in 2013 by the Association for Young People’s Health (AYPH) identified a lack of research on young people who self-harm but do not attend hospital with their injuries⁶. We have blogged previously about the motivation to include the topic of self-harm in the HBSC England survey, for further details have a read of our blog post here. 

Analysis of the 2014 HBSC England data identified around a fifth (21.5%) of 15 year old respondents reported having self-harmed (data published previously in articles by the Guardian and BBC). Fifteen year old girls were nearly three times as likely as boys to report having self-harmed; 31.9% of girls compared with 11.4% of boys. Figure 1 illustrates how often young people were self-harming; the majority of those who self-harmed reported self-harming around once a month.

Note: Figure 1 originates from Brooks et al. (2015)

Given that this is the first time self-harm has been added to the HBSC England survey our data alone cannot tell us whether self-harm has changed over time. However, comparing our data to a similar school based study conducted in England during 2000/01⁷ suggests self-harm rates may have nearly tripled over the past decade. Questions on self-harm will be included in the HBSC England survey during the next round, allowing us to observe any changes between 2014 and 2018. 

While it was important to gain new insight into prevalence rates of self-harm, particularly for those young people who do not present at hospital with their injuries, the HBSC study also allows us to examine the relationship between self-harm and different elements of young people’s lives.

Our recent article sought to identify factors from the family, school and community which may help protect young people against self-harming. The study utilised data from a total of 1519 15 year olds who participated in the 2014 HBSC England survey. Self-harm was measured via the question “Have you ever deliberately hurt yourself in some way, such as cut or hit yourself on purpose or taken an overdose?”

The analysis identified key elements which were associated with self-harming including gender, family communication and a positive perception of the school and neighbourhood environments. In line with existing research⁶, the analysis identified girls were at a greater risk of self-harming compared to boys. The paper highlights the important role parents may play in preventing self-harm, as young people who found it difficult to talk to their mother and father had a greater chance of reporting self-harm than those who described family communication as easy.

For a more thorough discussion of our latest findings the full paper can be found by clicking here. The International Journal of Public Health have also created a useful visual summary of this paper which you can access here. 

References

1. National Self Harm Network. What is self harm? NSHM. Retrieved October, 5, 2016 from http://www.nshn.co.uk/whatis.html

2. Hawton, K., Saunders, K. & O’Connor, R, (2012). Self-harm and suicide in adolescents. The Lancet, 379, 2373-82.

3. Kidger, J., Heron, J., Lewis, G., Evans, J. & Gunnel, D. (2012). Adolescent self-harm and suicidal thoughts in the ALSPAC cohort: a self-report survey in England. BMC Psyhiatry, 12, 69.

4. Collishaw, S., Maughan, B., Goodman, R. & Pickles, A. (2004). Time trends in adolescent mental health. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 45(8), 1350-62.

5. ChildLine. (2012). Saying the unsayable: What’s affecting children in 2012.

6. Hagell, A. (2013). Adolescent self-harm: AYPH Research Summary No. 13. Association for Young People's Health (AYPH) & ChiMat.

7. Hawton, K., Rodham, K., Evans, E., & Weatherall, R. (2002). Deliberate self-harm in adolescents: self-report survey in schools in England. BMJ, 325, 1207–11. 

*** Call for Papers - Special Issue of Children & Society ***

Children & Society are running a special edition entitled

"Children’s and teenagers’ food practices in contexts of poverty and inequality" 

with guest editors Wendy Wills (University of Hertfordshire) and Rebecca O’Connell (Thomas Coram Research Unit, UCL).

The call for papers is now open. 

Deadline for abstracts: 30th September 2016

Contemporary concern with food security and nutritional diets indicates that food and eating are particularly important for children and young people. Children’s and young people’s consumption of food is materialised and made manifest in their physical, emotional and mental health, and intersects with self-esteem and body image, both of which become more salient as they mature. Furthermore, commensality plays a role in establishing and cementing social networks, with food consumption playing a significant role in children’s attempts to connect to, and reject, social relations with others (James, 1997). Food is also an important medium for children’s expression of identity and control and a means of enacting agency and increasing their autonomy as they grow older (O’Connell and Brannen, 2016). Children and young people also make significant contributions to domestic food provisioning, including producing, procuring and preparing food for themselves and their families (Backett-Milburn, Wills et al., 2011).

Yet children’s and young people’s access to food (and other resources) is limited by food availability, family income and their own access to money. Qualitative studies of children’s perspectives of poverty show the damaging effects on them of material disadvantage and social exclusion, as well as the ways that resourceful and resilient young people manage and moderate the effects of poverty (Ridge, 2011). However, not enough is known in the contemporary context of austerity, nor at an international level, about how children and young people negotiate food and eating in contexts of enduring disadvantage. This special issue of Children & Society (2018) will address this gap in knowledge.Incorporating international, multi-disciplinary papers the special issue will draw together cutting edge research providing empirical and theoretical insights about the lives of children and young people in relation to their food practices and the different contexts and domains in which they are enacted. Papers will examine the implications of poverty and inequality for food access as well as the meanings and uses of food in children’s and young people’s everyday lives, reflecting the symbolic and material nature of their socio-economic position: at home, school, in community settings and the commercial marketplace. Given contemporary concern with the quality of children’s diets and with social inclusion, the special issue will make a scholarly, practice and policy contribution in relation to theories of childhood; children's everyday lives at home, school and in the community; children's culture, rights and participation; and children's health and well-being, in line with the scope of the journal.


Addressing the variability of children’s and young people’s food practices and the contexts in which they are enacted, abstracts of up to 300 words are invited for papers that address the topic of children’s and teenagers’ food practices in contexts of poverty and inequality, including but not limited to the following questions:

• How do poverty and inequality mediate children’s and young people’s food practices? 

• What is the relevance of social contexts and social policies and where is responsibility for children’s and young people’s food and eating seen to reside? 

• Which conceptual approaches are helpful in seeking to understand children’s experiences?

• And what methodological and ethical issues need to be considered in researching and influencing young people’s food practices in the context of poverty and inequality?

Timetable for Children & Society Special Issue

Abstract deadline - 30th September 2016 
Accepted authors notified - 31st  October 2106
Full papers deadline - February 2017
 Papers reviewed between February - September 2017
Revised manuscripts deadline - December 2017  
Special Issue published - May 2018

Abstracts and queries should be sent to:Wendy Wills w.j.wills@herts.ac.uk or Rebecca O’Connell rebecca.oconnell@ucl.ac.uk

About the guest editors...

Wendy Wills is Professor of Food and Public Health at the University of Hertfordshire where she works at the interface of social science and public health in relation to food, eating, weight/obesity and health; inequalities and young people are a particular concern and a focus of her research. She has previously guest edited issues of Sociological Research Online and Critical Public Health, on the subject of food practices; both these special issues drew on papers submitted to the British Sociological Association ‘Food and Society’ conference in 2010, which Wendy convened.

Dr Rebecca O'Connell is a Senior Research Officer at the Thomas Coram Research Unit, UCL Institute of Education. She is a Social Anthropologist whose research interests focus on children’s and families’ food practices, poverty and inequality, work-life issues, and research methodology. Rebecca is currently Principal Investigator on a European Research Council funded study of Families and Food in Hard Times in the UK, Portugal and Norway. She is also co-convenor of the British Sociological Association Food Study Group.

Launch of the HBSC international report

On the 15^th March the WHO Health Behaviour in School-aged Children (HBSC) International report was launched in Brussels! The international report provides an insight into the health and wellbeing of young people aged 11 – 15 years from across Europe and North America. The data is based on responses from over 200,000 young people from 42 countries who took part in the 2013/14 HBSC study. You can access the report here, along with factsheets and success stories illustrating how HBSC has been used to affect policy in different countries. The international report contains quotes from young people from different countries in the study – we think they are a fantastic addition and provide context and understanding to the data.

The HBSC international report is titled “Growing up unequal: gender and socioeconomic differences in young people's health and well-being. Health Behaviour in School-aged Children (HBSC) study: international report from the 2013/2014 survey” and reflects the findings that differences between gender and socioeconomic status are having a negative effect on the health and wellbeing of young people.

With our data being presented alongside countries from Europe and North America we are able to make cross cultural comparisons and see how well young people in England are doing compared with their peers in other countries. English girls showed one of the highest levels of inequality for multiple health complaints, self-rated health, and tobacco initiation compared to other European and GB countries. The girls from the least affluent households (lowest 20%) in England are more likely to experience weekly multiple health complaints and they rate their health much lower than girls from the most affluent (highest 20%) households. The difference in prevalence between these groups is one of the largest across all HBSC countries. On a positive note, the report found that English 11-year olds fare better on a number of health indicators compared with many of their European peers, such as having breakfast every day and regular tooth brushing.

For more details about the international data you can check out the press coverage from The Independent, The Telegraph and The Guardian. You can also follow the conversation by using #teenhealth.

Crucial Crew

On Tuesday 15^th March we manned a stall at Crucial Crew, a Welwyn Hatfield event aimed at sharing information with young people. Year 9 students from six local schools attended the event throughout the day. A range of stalls were available to provide young people with information and advice about services and opportunities available to them. The HBSC England team were there to inform young people about how they can be involved in research, why it is important and the benefits for them.

The HBSC England study is keen to involve young people in the research process, and not just as participants. Young people can be involved in lots of different ways, in the past young people have helped us develop the HBSC questionnaire, piloted questions with their peers to gain feedback on the questions, and interpreted the HBSC data through blog posts, conference presentations and designing infographics.

Young people usually engage with our research through schools, however Crucial Crew gave us the opportunity to talk to lots of young people from different schools about our research and how they can get involved. 

The day was very successful! We had some interesting conversations with young people about research, and they had lots of great ideas about the best ways for involving young people. To all the students (and teachers!) who were interested in getting involved with our research – we will be in touch soon and are looking forward to our future collaboration! We hope all the year 9 students who attended Crucial Crew found the event to be both useful and interesting.

And the winner is...

Thank you to all the young people who completed our quiz at the Galleria on 17th February! 

All completed quizzes were entered into a prize draw to win a £15 high street voucher, and earlier today Bethany Moss was picked as the prize winner! 

Congratulations to Bethany!

#UHatGalleria

The involvement of young people in the HBSC England study goes beyond young people being participants and completing the HBSC survey. The HBSC England team have been keen to involve young people in all parts of the research process including questionnaire development, piloting questions with peers, design and survey delivery, and interpretation of data. We have written a number of blog posts about how young people have been involved in our research, click here and here to read about our young co-researchers.

Usually youth participation is facilitated through local schools, however we were recently part of a University of Hertfordshire public engagement event to showcase our research with young people and the public. On Wednesday 17^th February, along with colleagues from our department CRIPACC, we set up our stall at the Galleria in Hatfield ready to share our research with the public!

Our data was presented on infographics – two of which had been designed by a young researcher called Harrison who joined us for work experience. 

We also ran a quiz about young people’s health in England. It was interesting talking to young people (and their parents!) about the health of English teenagers - some of the answers to the quiz were surprising and even questioned the assumptions we hold about teenagers. Thank you to all the young people who took part in the quiz - we will be drawing the prize winner soon!

The day was very successful and we hope everyone who attended the event found it interesting and had lots of fun! To have a look at what we got up to on the day you can search with #UHatGalleria or follow us on twitter @HBSCEngland.

Competition: Design an infographic!

Interested in design? Good with computers? Feeling creative? Enter our competition to have your design published AND win a high street shopping voucher.

What you can win...

1^st prize: £30 high street voucher and the winning infographic will be printed on promotional material e.g. posters, oyster card holders.

2^nd prize: £20 high street voucher

3^rd prize: £10 high street voucher

And even if you don’t win, your entry will still be displayed on our website and shared with our followers on Twitter and Facebook!

What you need to do…

We want to tell people about our research, and one good way of doing that is using infographics. 

An infographic displays data and information in a visual way – making it easy to understand. See infographics made by work experience student Harrison by clicking here and here.

You need to create an infographic based on the data from the Health Behaviour in School-aged Children study in England. 

The data can be found in our national report by clicking here. 

There are lots of different websites which you can use to create an infographic including Canva and Piktochart. If you are feeling creative, you can even make an infographic in Word/Publisher/Paint! 

How to enter…

You must be 18 years or younger to enter this competition.

The deadline is the 31st March 2016. Email your infographic (as a PDF or image file) to hbsc.england@herts.ac.uk. Remember to tell us your name and age too!

If you have any questions please get in touch. You can email us, or get in touch with us on Twitter or Facebook.