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The need for a science of patient and public involvement and participation in child and adolescent mental health research

Nature Mental Health volume 3, pages 1311–1317 (2025)Cite this article

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Abstract

There is an urgent need for a rigorous science of patient and public participation, involvement and engagement (PPIE) in child and adolescent mental health research. In this Perspective we argue that current PPIE practices lack solid theoretical foundations and require systematic evaluation of their epistemic and ethical impacts. We call for the development of clear concepts of ‘lived experience’ and ‘voice’ and the establishment of a shared framework to assess the value of PPIE in advancing discovery science. We end with ten initial questions to advance open, multi-stakeholder dialogue and debate on PPIE in the field.

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Acknowledgements

I.S. and C.A. are supported by the National Institute for Health and Care Research (grant no. NIHR203316). The views expressed are those of the authors and not necessarily those of the NIHR or the Department of Health and Social Care. I.S., A.S., L.S. and Z.R.K. are supported in whole, or in part, by the Wellcome Trust (grant no. 226785/Z/22/Z). A.S. is further supported by the Swiss National Science Foundation (grant no. 32003B_215660), the Wellcome Trust (grant no. HQR03140), and UKRI (grant no. 1510). For the purpose of Open Access, the authors have applied a CC BY public copyright licence to any Author Accepted Manuscript version arising from this submission. E.V. is funded by a Medical Research Council (MRC)/UKRI Adolescent Mental Health grant (MR/W002485/1) and supported by the NIHR University College London Hospitals (UCLH) Biomedical Research Centre.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychiatry, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK

    Ilina Singh, Lucienne Spencer, Charlotte Austin & Zeba R. Kokan

  2. Divisions of Psychiatry and Psychology and Language Science, University College London, London, UK

    Essi Viding & Argyris Stringaris

  3. First Department of Psychiatry, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Athens, Greece

    Argyris Stringaris

Authors
  1. Ilina Singh
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  2. Essi Viding
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  3. Lucienne Spencer
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  4. Charlotte Austin
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  5. Zeba R. Kokan
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  6. Argyris Stringaris
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Contributions

Conceptualization: I.S., A.S. and E.V. Drafting and revisions lead: I.S. Writing—review and editing: A.S., E.V., L.S., C.A. and Z.R.K.

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Correspondence to Ilina Singh.

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The authors declare no competing interests.

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Nature Mental Health thanks Uta Frith, Elin Håkonsen Martinsen and Dorothee Horstkötter for their contribution to the peer review of this work.

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Singh, I., Viding, E., Spencer, L. et al. The need for a science of patient and public involvement and participation in child and adolescent mental health research. Nat. Mental Health 3, 1311–1317 (2025). https://doi.org/10.1038/s44220-025-00497-1

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