Cultivating meaningful relationships with young people

How do we best engage young people in decision-making about their health?

A scoping review of deliberative priority setting methods

This scoping review’s objectives are to identify deliberative prioritysetting techniques and investigate their suitability for involving young people in the formulation of healthcare and health policy.

Using Medical Subject Headings (MeSH) and free text terms, seven databases were systematically searched for articles published in English before July 2021 that discussed the use of deliberative priority-setting approaches for health decision-making with young people. A team of six independent reviewers looked over all titles, abstracts, and full-text papers.

According to this review, it is best to spend time cultivating meaningful relationships with young people and making sure they are fairly compensated for their time and contributions if you want to engage them in decision-making about their health. This paper also contends that while there are strategies for power-sharing with young people, organisations and international institutions that decide on global health policy have not yet adopted them.

In addition, this review identified deliberative priority-setting methods that may not be appropriate for all young people. Digital engagement, for example, may not be as effective for young people in low-resource settings and the global south, where access to internet connections and reliable and consistent digital technology is limited.

According to the authors, World Health Organisation (WHO), United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), and other global organizations that want to engage young people in setting priorities for healthcare and health policy may benefit from designing their interactions with young people around key features of deliberative priority setting processes. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12939-022-01794-2

The authors note the importance of safeguarding mental health and helping healthcare professionals. If neglected, poor mental health can interfere with daily activities and have a negative impact on patient care. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph20032365