Rural health and wellbeing survey shows value of community-led research
/This article was featured in the SCDC Weekly - 5th June 2024.
A new community-led survey is being used to understand the priorities around research on mental health and wellbeing in rural areas, and how communities can shape what comes next.
Co-designed by a group of community members, the survey aims to challenge what research around mental health and wellbeing looks like so it can be more inclusive and accessible to those most affected.
The survey is an example of community-led action research, where the community decides on an issue to be researched, designs and carries out the research, and makes use of the results. It’s something we think has huge potential to change how evidence is used to shape how policy decisions are made.
As part of the co-design process, the working group met regularly to decide the themes which they felt were necessary to explore, and the types of questions which they felt would be most important. They also focused on making the questions accessible and meaningful, as well as making decisions on how the survey should be distributed and publicised.
This collaborative research team will use the findings to develop a paper which will help policy makers, funders, researchers and health & social care professionals to engage in ways that feel fair, meaningful and relevant to community priorities.
The survey is open until 17th June 2024 to people aged 16 or over, who currently live in rural Scotland, or have lived there within the past 12 months, regardless of whether or not they were born or grew up there.
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