In 2013 Arthritis Research UK now Versus Arthritis set up the Barbara Ansell National Network for Adolescent Rheumatology (BANNAR). The purpose of BANNAR was to create a network of professional people, both clinicians (doctors) and researchers, who work in adolescent rheumatology to oversee all the rheumatology research being conducted in this area. BANNAR also wanted to get young people and their families more involved with research.
One of BANNAR’s projects is the Young People’s Opinions Underpinning Research (YOURR) project, of which you may have heard of, or even been a part of.
The YOURR project has two main parts:
- To conduct research with young people to understand their research priorities i.e. what research do young people think is most important in rheumatology?
- To set up a Young Person’s Advisory Group to get young people with rheumatic conditions involved in rheumatology research.
In 2015- July 2016 BANNAR worked with the Public Programmes Team, now Vocal (a not-for-profit organisation based in Manchester) to conduct 16 focus groups across the UK (England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland) with young people aged 10-24 with rheumatic conditions. These focus groups were the first part of the YOURR project looking at research priorities.
The results of this research have now been published and are available here: https://rdcu.be/tTzU
In July 2016 BANNAR and Vocal started the Young Person’s Advisory Group, and this website is the Group’s official website. The group’s first meeting was held on 15th October 2016 in Manchester. Since this meeting the Group members have voted to name the group ‘Your Rheum’.
YOUR RHEUM 