WAYS (Wellbeing Among Youth in Scotland)
WAYS (Wellbeing Among Youth across Scotland) is a new project exploring how young people of diverse sexualities and genders across Scotland understand and experience the interrelated social and structural factors that contribute to their health and wellbeing. Over the past decade, surveys have found an increasing number of LGBTQ+ young people say that Scotland is a good place for LGBTQ+ young people to live, yet many young people also report significant challenges to their health and wellbeing, including bullying, harassment and discrimination relating to their sexual and/or gender identities. We want to find out more about what helps young people of diverse sexualities and genders feel well and supported within their lives (as well as things that are detrimental to health and wellbeing), and how to best support young people living in different areas and circumstances across Scotland.
In order to gain a rich understanding of young people’s own views and experiences, we are using a qualitative multimodal approach, including interviews and photo-based methods, with approximately 30 young people living across Scotland. Our intention is that this exploratory project will lay the foundation for work to develop the best possible interventions that seek to improve and sustain health and wellbeing among LGBTQ+ individuals and communities. Essentially, we want to make sure that young people’s own ideas about what helps them feel well and supported underpin health improvement research and policy relating to LGBTQ+ young people in Scotland.
Staff
