READY study: reaching under-represented groups

As we enter the second year of data collection for the READY study of deaf young people, we are still looking for deaf people between the ages of 16-19 who may be interested in taking part. Recruitment in 2020 has understandably been a challenge because of the pandemic and, as a result, the number of people involved to date have not been as high as we hoped. Our first report presented our findings from a survey of 92 deaf young people. Although we have made some important observations in our first report, it is all the more vital for us to have as many deaf young people as possible involved in our study going forward.

Longitudinal observational studies like the READY study, which track a group of people over a period of time, rely on having a large number of people representing different social groups. Having healthy numbers means we can effectively apply statistical analyses to the dataset to find out how different outcomes such as attainment at school or emotional wellbeing are influenced by a range of factors like age, ethnicity, gender, or the size of people’s social networks.

In our review of careers advice for disabled young people, we summarised the findings from several longitudinal observational studies looking at disabled young people during key transition periods. We learnt about the importance of work experience and transition programmes for improving outcomes. We also learnt that factors can vary in their strength of influence over time: negative effects from suppressed educational aspirations appear to be strongest during earlier transitions within secondary education. We also learnt how factors such as gender and ethnicity can have an effect on employment amongst disabled young people with white men more likely to be employed.

These findings, while informative, are based on reviews of international studies looking at disabled young people in general. There are few studies (if any) of this nature focusing on deaf young people in the UK and this is an important gap that the READY Study seeks to address. While we have made progress, the study’s success depends on us encouraging a good number of young people from a range of backgrounds to get involved.

At the time of writing, some groups in our first year report are underrepresented. The majority of deaf young people in our sample so far are female, we have no participants from African and Afro-Caribbean heritage backgrounds, and low numbers of people from lower socioeconomic backgrounds. It is important that we include more young people from these groups so that we can get a clearer picture of how they are doing during an important period in their lifetime.

Looking at existing research, we know that these groups require our attention. Deaf young people have lower levels of mental wellbeing compared to hearing people of a similar age. Our recent literature review on emotional wellbeing in deaf children suggests that the relationship between gender and wellbeing can be complex; an individual’s level of emotional wellbeing can change over time and in different ways for each gender. We have also found (in another literature review that will be published later this year) that that Black and Asian deaf children in England annually achieve lower attainment scores when compared to white deaf children.

These findings, which can have a long-term effect on a child’s future prospects, are an important reason why we need more young people from these underrepresented groups involved in the READY Study. Through their involvement and the study’s subsequent findings, we can learn more about how we can target support effectively to assist deaf young people in achieving their goals. If you know of anyone who might be interested, please do encourage them to visit the University of Manchester’s project website.