What is the London Young People Study?
The London Young People Study is the largest study of its type focused on this cohort of young people aged 11-18 with medium to high risk of harm outside the home.
To evaluate the potential effectiveness of Your Choice, the programme is being evaluated by a randomised controlled trial (RCT). This is a research method where teams are randomly picked to either deliver the new programme or to continue as they normally would. By comparing the two groups – the Your Choice teams and the Business As Usual teams – the Evaluators can determine the potential impact of Your Choice. The evaluation of the Your Choice programme is referred to as the London Young People Study. To find out more about RCTs watch the video discussion below:
Expert discussion with Matt Raleigh, Programme Lead, LIIA, Sarah Cattan, Associate Director at the Institute for Fiscal Studies and Sarah Fullick, Head of Programmes, Youth Endowment Fund
Why is it important?
The London Young People Study is the largest randomised controlled trial conducted to evaluate the impact of a CBT-informed violence reduction programme in the UK. While other CBT programmes have been evaluated via a randomised controlled trial, this study is unique in evaluating a programme delivered at scale. This means that the data collected through the trial depicts a more representative picture of the cohort of young people the programme is designed to support, a group of young people we know are otherwise under-represented in clinical services and trials. Moreover, the evaluation will provide more relevant insights into whether and how Your Choice is likely to benefit children if further funded. Both of these unique features make the study unique not only from a research standpoint, but also for the insights it will generate to improve policy and practice to help a group we know is most in need and yet least likely to access therapeutic support.
Who is involved?
Project team
The Your Choice programme has been developed by the London Innovation and Improvement Alliance (LIIA), supported by London’s Violence Reduction Unit (VRU). The LIIA team is responsible for the design, development and implementation of the programme whilst the VRU oversees financial aspects of the pan London programme and its evaluation.
Evaluation team
The evaluation is being carried out by the Institute for Fiscal Studies and the Anna Freud Centre. The project funders, the Youth Endowment Fund, place a strong emphasis on evaluating ways of working to provide evidence bases to change practice.
Read more about our project partners here.
31 of London’s Boroughs
Across London 31 Local Authorities (LA) are participating in the full-scale Efficacy trial to test out the Your Choice programme. Each of the participating LAs have at least one Your Choice team that is delivering the programme and one team that is operating as they normally would (Business As Usual/Control). Read more about the role of Your Choice practitioners here [hyperlink].
To coordinate the evaluation locally each LA has one or more Single Points of Contact (SPOCs) who oversees the teams involved as well as those supporting the delivery of the Your Choice programme. Trainers provide the 5-day Your Choice training to practitioners and the Clinical leads supervise the Your Choice practitioners.
An overview of who is involved in the London Young People Study (LYPS)
LYPS Resources
The LIIA and IFS teams have developed a range of resources to support LAs and practitioners involved in the London Young People Study. You can access some of these key resources below:
- IFS Practitioner Page: The evaluation team at the IFS has created a detailed resource page for all practitioners involved in the London Young People Study. Here you can find all the relevant forms, policies and video materials.
- Practitioner Welcome Pack: all practitioners involved in the study (both in Your Choice and Control teams) should have received a welcome pack when they were first onboarded into the study. The Welcome Pack summarises all the information and resources practitioners may need during the study.
- SPOC Welcome Pack: this document summarises key information and resources for the main programme contacts in each Borough.
- Introduction to the London Young People Study for parents and carers: this leaflet introduces the London Young People Study to parents and carers.
- London Young People Study (LYPS) Explainer Video: the video provides a 2-minute introduction to the London Young People Study for young people and explains what being a participant in the study entails.
Data collection
The IFS practitioner page includes useful resources including slides, videos and links that explain in detail the data collected and matched for the Study. summarised in the graphic below.
The LYPS Portal
To support the data collection the Evaluators have developed the LYPS Portal where practitioners will be able to add profiles for young people participating in the study and complete all relevant questionnaires. On the portal, SPOCs will also be able to view all data submitted by their Local Authority, You can access the LYPS portal by clicking here.
How can I contact the team?
You can contact the central project team by emailing yourchoice@londoncouncils.gov.uk.
For Study specific questions, you can contact the evaluation team on londonstudy@ifs.org.uk
For queries related to funding, please contact Harriet Joseph at the VRU Harriet.Joseph@london.gov.uk