Accepted for/Published in: JMIR Mental Health
Date Submitted: Dec 19, 2018
Date Accepted: Jun 11, 2019
(closed for review but you can still tweet)
Warning: This is an author submission that is not peer-reviewed or edited. Preprints - unless they show as "accepted" - should not be relied on to guide clinical practice or health-related behavior and should not be reported in news media as established information.
Effectiveness of a Mental Health Service Navigation Website (Link) for Young Adults: Randomized Controlled Trial
Background:
Mental health and substance use disorders are the main causes of disability among adolescents and young adults yet fewer than half experiencing these problems seek professional help. Young people frequently search the Web for health information and services, suggesting that Web-based modalities might promote help-seeking among young people who need it. To support young people in their help-seeking, we developed a Web-based mental health service navigation website called
Objective:
The study aimed to investigate the effect of Link on young people’s positive affect (PA) compared with usual help-seeking strategies immediately post intervention. Secondary objectives included testing the effect of Link on negative affect (NA), psychological distress, barriers to help-seeking, and help-seeking intentions.
Methods:
Young people, aged between 18 and 25 years, were recruited on the Web from an open access website to participate in a randomized controlled trial. Participants were stratified by gender and psychological distress into either the intervention arm (Link) or the control arm (usual help-seeking strategies). Baseline, immediate postintervention, 1-month, and 3-month surveys were self-reported and administered on the Web. Measures included the PA and NA scales, Kessler psychological distress scale (K10), barriers to adolescent help-seeking scale (BASH), and the general help-seeking questionnaire (GHSQ).
Results:
In total 413 young people were recruited to the trial (intervention, n=205; control, n=208) and 78% (160/205) of those randomized to the intervention arm visited the
Conclusions:
The process of prompting young people to seek mental health information and services appears to improve their affective state and increase help-seeking intentions, regardless of whether they use a Web-based dedicated youth-focused tool, such as
ClinicalTrial:
Australian New Zealand Clinical Trials Registry Number (ANZCTRN): 12614001223628; http://www.anzctr.org.au/TrialSearch.aspx?searchTxt=12614001223628&isBasic=True