Feasibility of using health and wellbeing data for school planning: the SHINE pilot in Scotland.

Child and adolescent mental health and wellbeing (MHWB) have received greater attention in recent years due to increases in mental ill health and reports of decreasing subjective wellbeing. The School Health and Wellbeing Improvement Research Network (SHINE) was established to create a national infrastructure to support Scottish schools to collect and use health and wellbeing (HWB) data to inform school improvement action planning. This study aimed to evaluate a pilot of SHINE's provision of school-level HWB data reports from the Health Behaviour in School-aged Children survey and their impact on school action planning. Using a qualitative case study design, we collected data in four local authorities across Scotland via pupil and school staff focus groups (n = 23 groups), and from interviews with senior leaders, school SHINE Leads, other relevant school-level stakeholders, local authority (LA) HWB and data leads (n = 30 interviews). Data analysis was supported using Normalisation Process Theory as a guiding framework. Implementation was at an early stage. Participants indicated that the data reports were an accessible and valuable source of local information to support the improvement agenda. SHINE's expertise supported the lack of research capacity and strengthened HWB data literacy skills in schools. At the point of interview, data reports had not been shared widely within the school community, but there was some limited use of the reports to inform action planning around HWB. Through close working and further engagement with schools, SHINE has the potential to support them to deliver national commitments to improving HWB.

Scottish schools are required to support young people's health and wellbeing (HWB). Schools must demonstrate a robust framework of self-evaluation to understand pupils' HWB needs and find ways to support them. The School Health and Wellbeing Improvement Research Network (SHINE) was set up to support Scottish schools to better understand the HWB needs of pupils and make more effective use of HWB data. In SHINE's initial pilot phase, schools were given reports of findings from a survey of some of their pupils. This study asked schools and local authorities what they thought of these reports and whether they had used them to inform school improvement. Schools were enthusiastic about receiving reports with their own school's data. They liked the format and content of the reports. However, at the time of interview, only a few schools had used the reports to make changes within the school. Some limitations of the data reports were identified. They believed however that SHINE's expertise was valuable and were enthusiastic about the potential of network membership. SHINE will continue to develop in response to this study's feedback.

TeenCovidLife: a resource to understand the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on adolescents in Scotland.

TeenCovidLife is part of Generation Scotland's CovidLife projects, a set of longitudinal observational studies designed to assess the psychosocial and health impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic. TeenCovidLife focused on how adolescents in Scotland were coping during the pandemic. As of September 2021, Generation Scotland had conducted three TeenCovidLife surveys. Participants from previous surveys were invited to participate in the next, meaning the age ranges shifted over time. TeenCovidLife Survey 1 consists of data from 5,543 young people age 12 to 17, collected from 22 May to 5 July 2020, during the first school closures period in Scotland. TeenCovidLife Survey 2 consists of data from 2,245 young people aged 12 to 18, collected from 18 August to 14 October 2020, when the initial lockdown measures were beginning to ease, and schools reopened in Scotland. TeenCovidLife Survey 3 consists of data from 597 young people age 12 to 19, collected from 12 May to 27 June 2021, a year after the first survey, after the schools returned following the second lockdown in 2021. A total of 316 participants took part in all three surveys. TeenCovidLife collected data on general health and well-being, as well as topics specific to COVID-19, such as adherence to COVID-19 health guidance, feelings about school closures, and the impact of exam cancellations. Limited work has examined the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on young people. TeenCovidLife provides relevant and timely data to assess the impact of the pandemic on young people in Scotland. The dataset is available under authorised access from Generation Scotland; see the Generation Scotland website for more information.

Accelerometry-assessed sleep duration and timing in late childhood and adolescence in Scottish schoolchildren: A feasibility study.

Children and adolescents commonly suffer from sleep and circadian rhythm disturbances, which may contribute to poorer mental health and wellbeing during this critical developmental phase. Many studies however rely on self-reported sleep measures. This study assessed whether accelerometry data collection was feasible within the school setting as a method for investigating the extent of sleep and circadian disruption, and associations with subjective wellbeing, in Scotland. Fourteen days of wrist-worn accelerometry data were collected from 69 pupils, aged 10-14 years. Objective measures of sleep timing, sleep duration and circadian rest-activity patterns were derived. Questionnaires assessed subjective sleep timing, depressive symptoms, and experiences of wearing the accelerometer. Pupils slept on average less than 8 hours per night, failing to meet standard age-specific recommendations. Sleep timing was later and duration longer on weekends compared to weekdays (B = 0.87, 95% confidence interval (CI) 0.70, 1.04; B = 0.49, 95% CI 0.29, 0.69), indicating social jetlag. Lower daytime activity was correlated with higher depressive symptoms (r = -0.84, p = 0.008). Compared to primary school pupils, secondary pupils had shorter sleep window duration and lower circadian relative amplitude. Over half of participants reported some discomfort/inconvenience wearing the accelerometer. These data highlight that inadequate sleep is prevalent in this sample of schoolchildren. Future, larger scale investigations will examine in more detail the associations between sleep, circadian function and physical activity with mental health and wellbeing.