Scottish Community Development Centre

ABSTRACT This paper reports on research into a community development approach to supporting young carers, adopted in one city in Scotland (UK) to increase the numbers of ‘identified’ young carers, and to inform an assets-based approach to addressing their needs. A research team of twelve young carers and four practitioners, led by a senior practitioner, co-designed and conducted the research. Secondary data was co-analysed to identify gaps and inform the design of an online questionnaire, completed by 243 young people and 43 practitioners. Additionally, 23 people participated in semi-structured interviews, and 13 young carers participated in creative workshops. We found that the community development approach generated an increase in numbers of young carers identified and supported (through targeted and universal services and informally). Embedding community development values in practice contributed to this by reducing stigma, and empowering young carers to lead in awareness raising and provision of support. The community development approach demonstrated how embedding a non-deficit culture and a genuine commitment to ‘making it work’ (through awareness-raising and collaboration on complementary practices) offers the potential to mobilise assets and encourage positive, and meaningful joint endeavours between young carers, families, schools and agencies.

There are growing calls within public health for researchers and practitioners working to improve and protect the public's health to become more involved in politics and advocacy. Such a move takes practitioners and researchers beyond the traditional, evidence-based public health paradigm, raising potential dilemmas and risks for those who undertake such work. Drawing on the example of the People's Health Movement, this short paper argues that advocacy and social movements are an essential component of public health's efforts to achieve great health equity. It outlines how the Scottish branch of the People's Health Movement sought to overcome potential tensions between public health evidence and advocacy by developing a regional manifesto for health via transparent and democratic processes which combine empirical and experiential evidence. We suggest that this is an illustrative example of how potential tensions between public health research and advocacy can be overcome, through bottom-up movements of solidarity and action.