‘Smells like community spirit’: an exploration of stakeholders perceptions of the social needs and issues for young people in Douglas

Arising from the ISPCC’s report, ‘Douglas Consultation Report: Consultation Proposal and Findings’ in 2016, this research was done in collaboration with the CARL initiative in UCC and with Douglas Matters. CARL promotes community-based research, allowing the voices of small community organisations to be heard. The study is part of a wider, three-part research project that focuses on the lives of young people in Douglas. This section of the research explores the perspectives of adult stakeholders in Douglas around the social issues arising for young people in the community. Interpretivism, social constructivism and community-based participatory research were the theoretical underpinnings of this research. The methodology used was primary research in the form of semi-structured interviews. Six adult stakeholders participated in these interviews, five of whom were professionally linked with the Douglas area and the final participant being a resident who held a voluntary role in the community. The adult stakeholders identified the social issues, the resources available in Douglas to address these issues and the gaps that are evident in these resources. The results of this research saw a general dissatisfaction with the services available in Douglas and the adult stakeholders discussed several ways that the gaps should be addressed. Based on the data collected, several recommendations have been made with the hope that they will inform future development of the Douglas community