Institute for Social Justice
Women, Young People and Families
Our research into the social issues faced by women and young people.
Our research explores and seeks to tackle some of the significant social issues facing women, young people and families in contemporary life.
This includes work ranging from the arts to psychology that engages with questions of sexual abuse and harassment, and which seeks to develop sensitive, research informed and impactful interventions. Other research in this area seeks to remove barriers and broaden opportunities through working with schools and families.
Our current projects include:
All About Respect
All About Respect is a collaborative project connecting academics, students, student services professions and local charities. The overarching objective of the project is to create spaces for open and honest dialogue with students focusing on healthy relationships and tackling sexual violence, harassment and abuse on campus and in the community. Working collaboratively with students we find creative ways of conducting research on the impact of experiences of sexual harm to inform the development of awareness raising campaigns.
As part of the project, we have delivered bystander training which is designed to empower individuals to tackle inappropriate behaviour. More recently we have developed an online version of the bystander training course, which is freely available via our website below, along with a variety of additional resources (for example, podcasts, infographics).
We have ongoing research projects focusing on the nature and experiences of sexual harm, how such experiences relate to poor mental health and the efficacy of bystander training.
To find out more, you can visit the All About Respect website, follow us on X (formerly known as Twitter) at @YSJRespect or email us at allaboutrespect@yorksj.ac.uk.
It's Not OK
Conducted with funding from the City of York Safeguarding Children Partnership and NSPCC, It’s Not OK is a series of projects lead by Rachel Conlon (theatre) and Jules Dorey Richmond (theatre) since 2015 that utilise theatre in education (TiE) as a catalyst to tackle issues relating to child sexual abuse and exploitation. Through TiE, the work gives pupils a chance to explore challenging scenarios and give characters advice in a manner described as a ‘rehearsal for life’ (Boal).
Over a number of interconnected projects, It’s Not OK has included: interactive performances to over 25,000 young people; developed an online digital teaching and learning resource for use in schools; delivered child sexual abuse and exploitation prevention workshops; and are currently developing ‘training the teacher’ CPD to be rolled out to York schools in 2021.
The It’s Not OK films and lesson plans are free of charge for schools, youth organisations and others to use with young people and can be accessed via the NSPCC website.
Toilet Talk
Toilet Talk was a collaborative project involving Nathalie Noret (University of York), Charlotte Haines-Lyon (Education), Alice Little (PhD student) and a group of pupil researchers, funded by the GEA and the ISJ. The project aim was to use participatory methods to examine young people's experiences of using school toilets and how these might inform school policies.
Alice worked with 6 young people to design and develop a project that would examine the 'toilet issues' within their sixth form. Collectively they created a questionnaire that would gather the insights of other sixth form attendees. The young people identified that the use of toilets as a social space was seen as problematic and discovered that no toilet policy existed within their sixth form. Throughout the process the young people engaged with discussions about research methods, ethical considerations, youth voice and participation.
Parenthood 2021
Parenthood 2021 seeks to work with parents and professionals (including health visits, midwives, perinatal mental health teams, breastfeeding counsellors) in order to understand gaps in services and improve experiences for new parents in York. Lead by Paige Davis (psychology), Ernestine Gheyoh Ndzi (law) and Emily McGeown (counselling), the findings from our research will be used to help fill these gaps for new parents by creating programmes in three areas.
- Family wellbeing, encompassing programs for parents who feel they would benefit from mental health check-ins and other practical supports.
- Breastfeeding, which would empower new mothers by providing daily breastfeeding support and a safe space for them to breastfeed.
- Supporting family choices, such as raising awareness around shared parental leave, and the rights of women breastfeeding at work.
Impact of COVID-19 on the Mental Health and Learning of Young Children
This project is a partnership between York St John University, and Kids Planet Day Nurseries, an independent provider of early years care and education.
A senior manager from Kids Planet approached York St John in April 2020, wishing to research the impact of COVID-19. It was agreed that information could be collected through an online survey to all staff, and from in-depth interviews with parents and practitioners, using interpretive phenomenological analysis to analyse the data.
The overall aim was to investigate the effects of the pandemic on young children, their parents and carers and as a consequence, to plan, implement and evaluate action that would safeguard the psychological wellbeing and mental health of young children, both in the short and longer term.
This interdisciplinary project is in its second stage, and is currently being conducted by Dr Joan Walton (education), Dr Chris Moreh (sociology), Dr Emily McGeown (psychology), Janice Darkes-Sutcliffe (PGR, education) and Gill Mason (Kids Planet Day Nurseries).
Play on Prescription with Theatre Hullabaloo
It is well documented that play promotes positive development in infancy. Our Play on Prescription research is an ongoing collaboration with Darlington-based Theatre Hullabaloo, exploring the impact of their approaches to creative play with children, parents and families gain social capital by learning to be more confident playing with their children. In 2021 the Institute for Social Justice evaluated a project designed to support new parents during COVID-19. There is little scientific research on programmes like this for parents, and no guide for those interested in setting up these play interventions. In 2023, Dr. Paige E Davis received a British Academy innovation fellowship to continue the research and provide an evidence base to for future implementation.
Her project uses interviews with parents and prescribers, alongside questionnaires and observational data, in order to begin to build evidence on how the programme works. We are hoping that this project can impact practice within arts, post-natal health and early years contexts.
(Photo credit: Theatre Hullabaloo)
