# FYP Slay Index

**OG: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1EwhrtIWKesEEAFbX67-7KXGE944tzLMB3TTZ3nRyTsc/edit?tab=t.0**

**Overarching Aim**

To understand how personal experiences and motivational drivers shape the journeys of youth mental health advocates and to identify the **key supports and resources** these advocates need to sustain and scale their impact—thus informing the **design of targeted solutions** for future youth change agents.

**1. Research Questions**

1\. **Personal Experience and Advocacy Trajectory**

How do the personal histories of youth advocates (encompassing the “4 Ls” of *Lived, Loved, Labored, Learnt*) influence their decision to become mental health activists?

2\. **Motivational Mechanisms (COM-B)**

In what ways do elements of **Capability, Opportunity, and Motivation** foster or hinder the advocacy behaviors (B) of youth activists over time, and how do these factors interact in different cultural contexts?

3\. **Identifying Advocates’ Needs**

What **specific supports, resources, or capacities** do youth advocates identify as crucial to **initiating and sustaining** their activism?

\- *Examples:* Mentorship, funding, training, community support, mental health resources, policy literacy, etc.

4\. **Designing Solutions for Future Advocates**

Based on youth advocates’ journeys and identified needs, **which types of interventions or system-level changes** would most effectively enable more youth to engage in mental health activism and leadership roles?

5\. **Cross-Cultural and Intersectional Dimensions**

How do intersectional identities (e.g., race, gender, socio-economic status) and cultural norms shape both the **barriers** and **enablers** of effective youth advocacy, and how might solutions be adapted to address these contextual nuances?

**2. Literature Review and Rationale**

**[FYP Slay Index: Literature Review](https://wiki.foryoupage.org/books/5-foryoupageorg/page/fyp-slay-index-literature-review "FYP Slay Index: Literature Review")**

**3. Proposed Methods**

**3.1 Study Design and Participants**

• **Sampling**:

• Purposefully recruit 20–30 youth mental health advocates, **ensuring representation** from multiple regions (e.g., Africa, Asia, Europe, Latin America).

• Strive for diversity in age, gender, socio-economic status, and advocacy focus (e.g., policy, community outreach, digital campaigns).

• **Ethical Considerations**:

• Informed consent for all participants, with optional anonymity/pseudonyms.

• Protocols for emotional support if sensitive topics arise.

**3.2 Data Collection**

1\. **Narrative Interviews (3 Phases)**

**[FYP Slay Index Interview Protocol](https://wiki.foryoupage.org/books/5-foryoupageorg/page/fyp-slay-index-interview-protocol "FYP Slay Index Interview Protocol")**

• **Phase 1 (Baseline)**: Explore personal backgrounds, catalysts for advocacy, experiences with mental health, and initial resource needs.

• **Phase 2 (Midpoint, ~6–8 months)**: Revisit changes in motivation, new barriers or enablers, emerging or unmet needs.

• **Phase 3 (End, ~12–15 months)**: Capture reflective insights, shifts in personal or professional identity, and updated viewpoints on required supports.

2\. **Needfinding Dialogue and Cards**

• **Method**: Introduce a “needs card-sorting” exercise (virtual or in-person), where participants rank or group the types of support they find most critical (e.g., mentorship, funding, policy knowledge, mental health coping tools).

• **Purpose**: Generate specific, structured data on the **hierarchy of needs** and possible solutions for each advocate.

3\. **Observational Data**

• If feasible, gather **field notes** or observation data during relevant advocacy events, online community interactions, or workshop sessions.

• **Rationale**: Complement narratives with real-time evidence of how youth navigate their environment (e.g., do they have easy access to mentors or not?).

**3.3 Data Analysis**

1\. **Narrative Analysis**

• **Inductive Coding**: Identify emergent themes and personal stories from transcripts.

• **Deductive Mapping**: Relate themes back to COM-B (Capability, Opportunity, Motivation—>Behavior) and the 4 Ls (Lived, Loved, Labored, Learnt).

• **Intersectional Lens**: Group narratives by intersectional identities (e.g., region + gender) to note differences or commonalities in resource needs.

2\. **Thematic Analysis of Needfinding Data**

• Compile the results from the card-sorting or “needs ranking” exercises.

• Identify patterns or clusters (e.g., do participants overwhelmingly cite ‘peer mentorship’ as a top resource?).

• Synthesize these into a “needs matrix” that can inform solution designs.

3\. **Longitudinal Comparison**

• Compare participants’ responses across the three time-points to see **how needs evolve** and **how personal motivation** interacts with discovered or newly provided resources.

**4. Anticipated Contributions and Actionable Outputs**

1\. **Identification of Key Leverage Points**

• The project clarifies *when* youth need certain supports the most—e.g., early-stage training vs. ongoing peer mentorship.

• This evidence can guide **youth-serving organizations** to allocate resources more effectively.

2\. **Youth Advocacy Toolkit or Support Framework**

• Develop a publicly available **toolkit** summarizing the main types of support needed at each phase of an advocate’s journey, grounded in the COM-B and 4 Ls frameworks.

• Include recommendations for **policy-makers**, educational institutions, and NGOs on how to nurture youth activism.

3\. **Cross-Cultural Insights**

• Generate comparative analyses illustrating how cultural contexts shape youth advocacy needs, highlighting successful localized strategies that could be adapted globally.

• Offer a basis for **equitable policy solutions** that respect diverse intersectional realities.

4\. **Academic Outputs and Knowledge Sharing**

• **Journal Articles**: Focus on theoretical advancements (e.g., refining COM-B applications) and intersectional frameworks in youth mental health advocacy.

• **Conference Presentations**: Share both the narrative findings and practical solution prototypes at forums on youth mental health, activism, or participatory research.

5\. **Longer-Term PAR or Implementation**

• Findings from the needfinding element can feed into a subsequent **Participatory Action Research** phase or direct collaboration with partner organizations, ensuring that insights translate into **on-the-ground interventions**.

**Select Additional References**

• **Brown, T., & Wyatt, J. (2010).** Design thinking for social innovation. *Stanford Social Innovation Review*, 8(1), 30–35.

• **Bessant, J. (2020).** Young people, politics and the micro-foundations of civic life. *Australian Journal of Political Science*, 55(1), 49–64.

• **Christens, B. D., & Dolan, T. (2011).** Interweaving youth development, community development, and social change through youth organizing. *Youth & Society*, 43(2), 528–548.

• **Crenshaw, K. (1989).** Demarginalizing the intersection of race and sex. *University of Chicago Legal Forum*, 1989(1), 139–167.

• **Hart, R. (1992).** *Children’s participation: From tokenism to citizenship*. UNICEF Innocenti Research Centre.

• **Hoppe, R. (2019).** Perspectives on lived experience: Emerging frameworks for mental health research. *Social Science & Medicine*, 233, 7–14.

• **McMahon, T., et al. (2020).** Applying COM-B to activism behaviors: Youth climate activism as a health behavior. *Health Education & Behavior*, 47(6), 971–978.

• **Meeus, W. (2016).** Adolescent psychosocial development: A review of longitudinal models and research. *Developmental Psychology*, 52(12), 1969–1993.

• **Michie, S., van Stralen, M. M., & West, R. (2011).** The behaviour change wheel: A new method for characterising and designing behaviour change interventions. *Implementation Science*, 6(42), 1–11.

• **Patton, M. Q. (2018).** *Principles-focused evaluation: The GUIDE*. Guilford Publications.

• **Riessman, C. K. (2008).** *Narrative methods for the human sciences*. SAGE Publications.

• **Rose, D., & Kalathil, J. (2019).** Power, privilege and knowledge: The untenable promise of co-production in mental health. *Frontiers in Sociology*, 4, 57.

• **Tuck, E., & Guishard, M. (2013).** Uncollapsing ethics: Racialized science and ethnographic inquiry. In E. Tuck & W. Yang (Eds.), *Youth resistance research and theories of change* (pp. 3–23). Routledge.

• **Wong, N. T., Zimmerman, M. A., & Parker, E. A. (2010).** A typology of youth participation and empowerment for child and adolescent health promotion. *American Journal of Community Psychology*, 46(1-2), 100–114.