Supporting wellbeing in girls and women
Platform 51 is a leading charity supporting girls and women across England and Wales. Having been known for 155 years as YWCA England & Wales, they changed their working name in December 2010 to reflect their work with girls and women of all ages and backgrounds, of all faiths and none.
Previous independent focus group research carried out by Platform 51 indicated a number of common life events which can act as ‘triggers’ to women developing low level mental health problems. The purpose of the quantitative survey was to build on these findings, identifying the most common triggers of low level mental health problems amongst women, how suffering from these issues impacted on their lives, and how they felt about the support and help available to them.
With the aim of bringing to the nation’s attention the prevalence and impact of mental health issues faced by girls and women in our society today, and also to support the launch of their rebrand, Platform 51 (previously the YWCA) commissioned Opinium to carry out a nationally representative survey of over 2,000 English and Welsh girls and women aged 12 upwards.
The key challenge to this research was to design a questionnaire which would allow us to gain an in-depth insight into these issues, while still respecting the very sensitive nature of the topic and avoiding language too complicated for younger girls to understand and respond to.
An online survey was judged the best methodology for this research, as it was felt that respondents would value the opportunity to provide their views and experiences on these issues while maintaining their anonymity, and without any social pressure which might be generated by an interviewer.
The responses of women who took part in our online survey were very encouraging – many praised our sensitive handling of the topics, and were keen to express their support for these important issues being raised and discussed.
The results from the survey were used by Platform 51 to compile a detailed report on the mental health of women and girls in our society.
Contact us at info@opinium.co.uk to learn more about this case study.
