A Youth-led Research Collaborative to Improve Student Mental Health in a Midwestern Urban Community

• In Event: Expanding Research Practice Partnerships: Integrating Youth Voices for Equitable and Impactful Collaboration

Abstract

Purpose
This youth participatory action research initiative focused on mental health challenges faced by youth in a Midwest city. The project empowered students to examine bullying, stress, anxiety, and depression in their schools and communities. In partnership with a state university, youth identified educational issues, developed research questions, and gathered data on bullying and mental health. They designed a survey titled “It’s OK to be S.A.D.” to explore how these challenges affect youth well-being and community health. Research questions:

Bullying: what is the main type of bullying, and how does it impact our communities?
Depression/Anxiety:
What are positive coping mechanisms for low and high achieving African Americans youth who suffer from mental health issues?
What do youth perceive as their biggest stressors and how does it affect their communities?

Perspectives
Youth engagement and voice help address health equity in public health, behavioral health, education, and medicine. Ozer (2020) shared multiple participation approaches relevant to adolescent health, youth development, education, and public health. These approaches engage youth in agentic roles with varying power to influence research, program design, and systems change.
Community engagement plays a role in data collection by involving individuals with direct experience. Through this process, youth can demonstrate leadership and shift norms. Youth engagement and organizing include storytelling, leadership, and fostering hopefulness and protection (Ortega-Williams et al., 2020). Youth organizing also supports healing by taking action, mobilizing, and informing others—enhancing well-being and mental health outside formal treatment (Ortega-Williams et al., 2020).

Methods & Data Sources
The survey was piloted in summer 2024, revised in fall, and then distributed city-wide. A total of 270 surveys were collected. Based on the data, bullying emerged as the major issue affecting student mental health. The youth group developed the Qualtrics-based survey “It’s OK to be S.A.D.” to address depression, anxiety, and bullying among the city’s public school students.

Results
Over half (55%) of respondents reported experiencing bullying—cyber, physical, or verbal. Additionally, 52% experienced anxiety both at home and school, and 70% reported frequent stress. 35% indicated symptoms of depression. Most respondents were female, identified as Black, and lived in the city’s east and west areas. After collecting data, youth analyzed results, presented findings nationally in March 2025, and created follow-up questions for focus groups and interviews. Continued research into youth experiences and resource access, as well as best practice recommendations, will be beneficial.

Significance
The primary objective of this project was to enhance understanding of the factors that inspire youth to assume leadership roles within their communities, utilizing research as a key tool. This initiative is grounded in social justice principles and aims to promote positive development among youth and the broader community. This approach enables young individuals to become subject matter experts and leaders by designing and implementing their own research projects and campaigns to disseminate findings.

Authors

• Bianca Burch, Wayne State University

• Erica B. Edwards, Wayne State University

• Imani Foster, 482 Forward