How Bath research into psychology, digital behaviour, and pain is supporting the health of children and young people
Researchers at the University of Bath are pioneering solutions to improve the health and wellbeing of children and young people. From tackling chronic pain and reducing self-harm to supporting mental health, autism inclusion, and healthy behaviours, their evidence-driven work is shaping better futures through innovative interventions and collaborative research.
Stopping children's pain from being swept under the carpet
Around 20% of children and young people worldwide are known to live with chronic pain – pain that lasts for 12 weeks or longer – and approximately 5% experience chronic pain which has a substantial impact on their lives with conditions including arthritis, other types of musculoskeletal pain, recurrent abdominal pain, and headaches.
Professor Emma Fisher, Arthritis UK Career Development Fellow, is one of the researchers at Bath working to make pain understood.
“For many parents and children, a trip to the doctors for routine inoculations will be a stressful and painful experience. This does not have to be the case – we know how we can make the experience less painful for young people, but we’re not doing it. This is an example of how pain has been accepted as an everyday feature of growing up.”
In 2020, Emma helped to lead a Lancet Child and Adolescent Health Commission, working with researchers, clinicians, and patients. The Commission, supported by Arthritis UK and The Mayday Fund, was set four critical goals to improve the lives of children with pain. The findings of the research were the first of their kind ever to address the issue of how paediatric pain is recognised, assessed and treated.
As part of the report, four goals were identified to deliver change in paediatric pain: make pain matter; make pain understood; make pain visible; make pain better.
‘This really matters,’ says Emma, ‘both for those experiencing pain and those around them but also across wider society.’ She highlights how chronic pain experienced in childhood is likely to feed through to adulthood with long-term health and economic costs associated.
“This Lancet Child and Adolescent Health Commission is a call to action on funders, researchers and policymakers more broadly to sit up and listen to the fact that too many of our young people are in pain and need help. "
Watch this short video for more on Lancet Child and Adolescent Health Commission on delivering transformative action in paediatric pain.
“We know there is ample evidence that children frequently experience preventable pain…that often goes unnoticed, unreported, or is not responded to, across healthcare including in the Emergency Department, post-surgical care, and in tertiary care.”
Professor Emma Fisher, Senior Research Fellow in the Department for Health, and Professor Ed Keogh, Deputy Head of Department of Psychology.
Professor Emma Fisher, Senior Research Fellow in the Department for Health, and Professor Ed Keogh, Deputy Head of Department of Psychology.
From dealing with diagnosis aged just 12, to learning to live with juvenile idiopathic arthritis, Caitriona Robert's insights have been vital in shaping this work.
From dealing with diagnosis aged just 12, to learning to live with juvenile idiopathic arthritis, Caitriona Robert's insights have been vital in shaping this work.
Professor Emma Fisher and Professor Ed Keogh
Professor Emma Fisher and Professor Ed Keogh
Professor Abbie Jordan, Department of Health at the University of Bath.
Professor Abbie Jordan, Department of Health at the University of Bath.
Professor Jordan's research was recently presented to the Duchess of Edinburgh, Royal Patron of Wellbeing of Women, at a showcase event to meet researchers funded by the charity.
Professor Jordan's research was recently presented to the Duchess of Edinburgh, Royal Patron of Wellbeing of Women, at a showcase event to meet researchers funded by the charity.
Helping young people understand and make sense of pain
Paediatric pain specialist Professor Abbie Jordan from the University of Bath’s Centre for Pain Research studies how young people and their families understand and make sense of their pain. She is well aware of how big a public health problem children’s pain is in today’s society.
“Living with moderate to severe pain has a huge impact on children, young people and their families, both in the short-term as well as worries about what their future may look like.”
Abbie has recently worked with the University of Stirling in a study funded by the National Institute for Health and Care Research to show how children are often left without effective pain management, and struggle to access support from health services. The report recommends primary care services – GPs and nurse practitioners – and policy makers, develop a new model of caring for children and young people with chronic pain, which incorporates support for the whole family.
She is now working on a new research project for Wellbeing of Women to improve the management of period pain in school settings and to empower young people to manage their periods effectively while continuing to engage in school life.
Period pain affects 93% of young people who menstruate, with 36% missing school and 77% struggling to concentrate in class during their period. Abbie’s project is the first to look at how periods and period pain influence the school lives of UK young people.
She is exploring the barriers that make it difficult for young people to take part in school life during their periods and ways to help reduce these difficulties so that they can be more involved, improving school engagement.
Learn more about Bath research in our monthly email
Research to reduce self-harm in young people
Self-harm is common among adolescents and is associated with a higher risk of suicide. Up to 18% of adolescents will engage in an act of self-harm and nearly all self-harm occurs in private.
Recent years have seen a significant increase in the availability of smartphone apps for mental health problems. Despite their proliferation, very few apps have been made for and with young people, and almost none have been subject to any form of evaluation.
Paul Stallard, Professor of Child and Family Mental Health in the Department for Health at the University of Bath, and Head of Psychological Therapies for Oxford Health NHS Foundation Trust, has developed a new mental health app, BlueIce, to address this problem. The app is designed to help manage negative emotions and periods of extreme anxiety for young people and developed in conjunction with patient groups, is now included in the national NHS app library; BlueIce is one of only 20 mental health apps to meet the rigorous standards for national endorsement on this library.
"BlueIce is a prescribed app to be used alongside traditional face-to-face appointments with a child and adolescent worker. It helps the young person to monitor and manage their unpleasant emotions and to find alternative ways of coping."
While feedback from young users has been overwhelmingly positive, a series of research papers published in the Journal of Medical Internet Research (JMIR) suggest that the app could also help tackle self-harm, the hidden health challenge affecting many young people. As well as being included in the NHS library, BlueIce is the only self-harm prevention app for children and young people recommended in the NHS Health Education England self-harm and suicide competence framework for good clinical practice.
Key impacts include:
- Available to Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS) across the UK
- Prescribed by CAMHS in Bath & North East Somerset, Buckinghamshire, Cambridgeshire, East London, Manchester, Oxfordshire, Peterborough and Wiltshire to 2,520 young people with serious and repeated self-harm
- Downloaded 2,760 times through the Australian App Store following a collaboration with the Murdoch Children's Research Institute in Melbourne
- Winning the Innovation in Digital Health Award at the 2019 National Positive Practice in Mental Health Awards
- Highlighted as outstanding practice by the Care Quality Commission
Empowering young people to access barrier free support, on demand, to improve mood and wellbeing
Professor Maria Loades and the spotLight on Adolescent and young adult Mood Problems (LAMP) research group from the Department of Psychology, is also supporting the wellbeing of young people by extending on mental health help that is currently offered. Working with young people in the UK, she has co-created the Unlock Wellbeing website; a free and accessible platform supporting young people’s mental health through digital single-session interventions.
Single session interventions are brief, evidence-based self-help mini-courses (each taking just 15–20 minutes) which aim to improve mood and wellbeing. The standalone sessions have been adapted from successful US models and co-designed with young people in the UK to ensure they are accessible, anonymous, and relevant.
Currently available options which can be accessed through the website, include single session interventions focused on: self-kindness; doing more of what matters to you (behavioural activation); developing a growth mindset; improving sleep; body neutrality (focusing on what your body does, not how it looks).
This work is part of an NIHR-funded programme of research through an Advanced Fellowship award to Professor Maria Loades. This programme of work aims to improve earlier help for young people with depression symptoms which included a project addressing the question of where and how young people search for information and support for mental health and depression symptoms online.
Professor Maria Loades
Professor Maria Loades
The LAMP research team.
The LAMP research team.
Professor Fiona Gillison, Deputy Director of the Centre for Motivation and Behaviour Change in the Department of Health at the University of Bath.
Professor Fiona Gillison, Deputy Director of the Centre for Motivation and Behaviour Change in the Department of Health at the University of Bath.
Watch the full film.
Supporting parents to have difficult conversations with children
Fiona Gillison is a member of the Centre for 21st Century Public Health and the Deputy Director of the Centre for Motivation and Behaviour Change, a centre focused on the psychological determinants of health, wellbeing and performance in the context of key public health issues. She and other colleagues in the centre are tackling one of the biggest public health challenges facing the UK: childhood obesity.
The latest figures from the National Child Measurement Programme show childhood obesity is rising. In the last school year, over one-quarter of children in reception and nearly half of year six children were considered above a healthy weight. To help address this, Fiona’s research focuses on how parents can give clear information on having conversations with children about wellbeing.
“The evidence tells us that parents are really concerned that talking to their children about their weight would harm their wellbeing, and even when they see their child being teased and bullied about their weight, they may feel unable to help.”
To help, Fiona developed a practical guide for parents on how to talk to their child for the better. This evidence-based guide, from research conducted at Bath and elsewhere, includes insight from parents, healthcare professionals, charities. "There has previously been no guidance to give to these parents," she says. "It’s incredibly important to share strategies that can help parents navigate talking to their child for the better."
In 2026, a series of films were released to complement the guidance. Drawing on the stories of people with lived experience, the films share tips on ways to support children who are worried about their weight, and those who may be overweight or living with obesity. "Children want their parents to reassure them and to help them be healthy," said Rachel Millar, who was the films’ producer and is a postgraduate student in Bath’s Department for Health.
"Together, the videos and guide form the first evidence-based resources on this topic designed for both parents and healthcare professionals. The aim is to break the silence around weight and give parents the confidence and knowledge to navigate these conversations without causing harm or distress.’
Examining the impact of smartphones and social media on young people
Concerns about the impact of digital technology on young people have grown rapidly in recent years. While some countries have introduced restrictions on social media use for under-16s, the evidence base remains limited. A review by the UK Government in 2019 concluded that existing research was insufficient to guide policy.
Professors Adam Joinson and David Ellis are leading research at Bath’s Institute for Digital Security and Behaviours, a centre dedicated to understanding how technology shapes behaviour, wellbeing, and security in the digital age. Together with colleagues across the UK, they are tackling one of the most pressing questions for policymakers and parents alike: how do smartphones and social media affect children’s health and development?
“New technologies are changing the way we live,” said Professor Ellis. “While some countries aim to limit the use of specific social media platforms and others plan to ban social media completely for those under 16, there is little evidence to suggest how these will work or positively impact the population at large.”
To answer that question, the researchers are involved with a major government-commissioned project that will lay the foundations for future studies and help inform evidence-based decisions. Led by the University of Cambridge and working alongside academics from University of Bristol and University of Glasgow among others, Professor Ellis and Joinson are reviewing existing research on how smartphones and social media influence children’s mental health, wellbeing, physical health, lifestyle, and educational attainment. They are also exploring how these impacts vary for vulnerable groups, such as LGBTQ+ young people and those with special educational needs or mental health challenges.
Crucially, the researchers will identify which methods and data sources are most effective for establishing causal links between technology use and child development. This will allow them to recommend how future studies can deliver robust evidence within the next two to three years.
Professor Adam Joinson
Professor Adam Joinson
Ground-breaking workshops for young autistic people applying for university and jobs
The prospect of attending university or applying for a job can be scary for anyone, but autistic people have particular challenges, says Professor Mark Brosnan.
Professor Mark Brosnan, former Director of Bath’s Centre for Applied Autism Research (CAAR), has spent years working to remove barriers for autistic young people as they transition into higher education and employment. CAAR, which opened in 2016, is dedicated to understanding and supporting the social-cognitive challenges faced by the autistic community, helping them to thrive and participate fully in society.
To this end, and as part of the University’s Gold Scholar project for Widening Participation and inclusion, Mark has established two very successful annual events for autistic young adults. The University of Bath Autism Summer School (UBASS) helps with the transition from school to university; and Bath Employment Spring School for Autism (BESSA) assists with the transition from education to work. “The summer school enables participants to stay in student accommodation at Bath for three days and two nights at the end of August,” explains Mark.
“For many, it’s the first time they’ve stayed away from home without their parents. In fact, it’s often the first time they’ve met anyone else autistic – and it’s a revelation for them to meet others who share similar experiences and interests.”
UBASS introduces students to university life, from lectures and seminars to campus activities. Participants visit the Sports Training Village, explore clubs and societies, and learn practical skills for managing anxiety and building friendships. There are even sessions on when and how to disclose autism. “The feedback from students and parents has been extraordinary,” says Mark. “One student’s experience was even featured by the BBC after she was told mainstream education wasn’t suitable for her. Actually, it was.”
The challenge doesn’t end at graduation. Entering the workforce can be just as intimidating, which is why Mark and colleague Chris devised BESSA, a programme funded by the University and JP Morgan Chase. “We could see the need to teach employment skills to both current and future autistic students,” says Mark. “They’re often unsure what to expect from interviews or starting a job.”
Students attend an autism summer school at Bath
Students attend an autism summer school at Bath
JP Morgan Chase partnered with Bath through its Autism at Work programme, seeking expert guidance to improve neurodiversity initiatives. “They’re a forward-thinking company,” Mark notes. “Together, we’re helping autistic young people gain the confidence and skills they need to succeed.”
Built with Shorthand