ArticleBMJ open2025
Consenting for themselves: a qualitative study exploring a Gillick Competence assessment to enable adolescents to self-consent to low-risk online research.
Article in BMJ open, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 4 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
4 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.
- How have contemporary research studies used social media to recruit to digital self-help intervention research for young people's mental health?: a mapping review.BMC medical research methodology · 2025Pooled it
- Digital Behavior Change Interventions for Digital Overuse: Scoping Review of Current Approaches and Emerging AI-Enabled Systems.Journal of medical Internet research · 2026Article
- Immediate Effects and Experiences of a Digital Single-Session Behavioural Activation Based Intervention for Adolescents: A Single Arm Pre-post Programme Evaluation of Project ABC in the UK.Clinical child psychology and psychiatry · 2026Article
- Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
7 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundProviding digital mental health interventions online could expand access to help for young people, but requiring parental consent may be a barrier to participation. We therefore need a method that enables young people <16 years old (ie, presumed competent in the UK) to demonstrate Gillick Competence (understanding of purpose, process, potential benefits and potential harms) to self-consent to online, anonymous, low-risk studies.
aimTo explore whether a new method for assessing Gillick Competence to participate in low-risk, anonymous online studies is acceptable to both young people and parents.
methodsWe interviewed 15 young people aged 13-5 years and 12 parents of this age group in the UK. Using a qualitative approach, we explored the acceptability of a series of multiple-choice questions (MCQs) designed to assess understanding of a specific online self-help research study testing a self-kindness intervention.
resultsThe MCQ answers that participants gave mostly corresponded with their narrative explanations of their understanding during interviews. Young people and parents thought that the process was empowering and could increase access to research while also promoting independence. However, they emphasised the importance of individual differences and different research contexts and highlighted the need for safeguards to be in place.
conclusionsThe MCQs were acceptable to both young people and parents, providing preliminary evidence for the potential of this process for allowing <16s to self-consent to online, anonymous, low-risk mental health research. Further research is needed to validate the effectiveness of this process among a diverse range of populations and research contexts.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.