Mental health and Wellbeing Focus Groups with Year 12 students from two English state schools

Mental health and Wellbeing Focus Groups with Year 12 students from two English state schools – interview transcripts

Soldan, C and Stubbs, J (2026). Mental health and Wellbeing Focus Groups with Year 12 students from two English state schools – interview transcripts. [Dataset]. London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, London, United Kingdom. 10.17037/DATA.00004909.

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Research data collected as part of a project to explore the meaning of good mental health and wellbeing among young people, as well as their understanding of mental health difficulties. The discussions covered various mental health models, with a particular focus on the dual-factor (two-continua) model. Data was gathered through six semi-structured focus groups - three in a Midlands town school and three in a Southern city school. These sessions captured the views of 23 students in total, all aged 16 to 17 years (Year 12). The research data consists of anonymised transcripts and photographs of posters produced by the students during the discussions.

Additional Information

Anonymised data will be made available for use in research following the signing of an LSHTM Data Transfer Agreement. Please complete the data request form to apply for access.

Keywords

Adolescent health; Mental health; Wellbeing; United Kingdom; England

Item Type	Dataset
Resource Type	Resource Type Resource Description Dataset Qualitative
Description of data capture	Data collection took place via 6 semi-structured focus groups (3 in each school) with 2-6 participants in each group. Semi-structured and participatory interview techniques were used following the focus group topic guide. Clear ground rules were outlined at the beginning of each session, followed by an ice-breaker activity unrelated to mental health. Activities and task-based approaches were used, including the production of posters summarising students’ views. Focus groups were conducted in person, audio-recorded and transcribed verbatim. Convenience sampling was used to recruit schools via email. Recruitment materials including emails and posters were provided to schools and interested Year-12 students were asked to complete a signup form to take part. Audio-recorded interviews were transcribed verbatim with the assistance of an AI transcriber (Zoom 2025 AI transcriber). Interview transcripts were reviewed and amended for accuracy. Transcripts were anonymised, with names replaced by respondent ID and other potentially identifiable information for schools or students removed (indicated by square brackets). The posters produced by students were photographed and are included in the dataset.
Capture method	Focus Group: Face-to-Face
Collection Period	From To 12 June 2025 2 July 2025
Date	5 January 2026
Language(s) of written materials	English
Creator(s)	Soldan, C and Stubbs, J
Associated roles	Mold, A (Supervisor) and Stubbs, J (Supervisor)
LSHTM Faculty/Department	Faculty of Public Health and Policy > Dept of Public Health, Environments and Society
Participating Institutions	London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, London, United Kingdom; PSHE Association
Funders	Project Funder Grant Number Funder URI Adolescents’ views of the relationship between wellbeing and mental health difficulties: Exploring the Dual-Factor Model with 16- to-17-year-old students in England (MSc Summer Project) Wellcome Trust UNSPECIFIED https://doi.org/10.13039/100010269
Date Deposited	06 Jan 2026 12:10
Last Modified	02 Jun 2026 14:06
Publisher	London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine

Explore Further

Soldan, Charlotte

Wellcome Trust

Dept of Public Health, Environments and Society

Data / Code

Focus_group_files.zip

subject: Data
lock: Restricted to Request access for all
copyright: Available under Data Sharing Agreement
info: Transcripts and posters produced during focus group discussion
folder_zip: application/zip
folder_info: 240B

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Documentation

Consent_forms.zip

subject: Documentation
: Available under Creative Commons: Attribution 4.0
info: Participant information sheet and consent form for schools and students
folder_zip: application/zip
folder_info: 788kB

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4909_UserGuide.html

subject: Documentation
: Available under Creative Commons: Attribution 4.0
info: User guide for dataset
html: text/html
folder_info: 10kB

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Study Instrument

Focus_Group_Topic_Guide.pdf

subject: Study Instrument
: Available under Creative Commons: Attribution 4.0
info: High-level topic guide for focus group discussion
picture_as_pdf: application/pdf
folder_info: 454kB

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Focus_Group_Topic_Guide_Expanded.pdf

subject: Study Instrument
: Available under Creative Commons: Attribution 4.0
info: Expanded topic guide used during focus group interviews
picture_as_pdf: application/pdf
folder_info: 516kB

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