Youth workers children and young people

Young people aged 11 to 25 who require hospitalisation encounter a range of additional challenges including social isolation, separation from familiar peer groups, and reduced access to usual support networks. We investigated how youth workers in hospital settings are uniquely positioned to address these challenges and help children and aid children and young people’s engagement with healthcare services.

We examined the key question: 

What is the impact of youth workers on the engagement with healthcare services of children and young people with long-term health conditions? 

Using Rapid Evidence Syntheses (RES) methods, we searched the databases Medine (Ovid) and the Cochrane Library for existing reviews and primary studies to investigate what was already known on this topic. This was complimented with key word searches in google scholar, reference lists and forward citations, including studies from hospital settings across high-income countries. Six relevant articles were ultimately included: one narrative literature review and five primary studies.  

What we found: 

We found that none of the studies directly assessed the impact of youth workers on healthcare engagement for young people with chronic conditions and only one qualitative study focused on young people with a long-term health condition. From the broader and indirectly relevant evidence found, this tentatively suggests that youth workers have had a positive impact on the experiences of young people, their parents, and healthcare professionals and have the potential to enable young people in hospital settings. However, this evidence base is of very limited and low certainty, and as such, we have limited confidence in the research findings. More and further research is likely to develop our understanding and alter the conclusion. 

Read the full report Here