Pretorius Claudette, Chambers Derek, Cowan Benjamin, Coyle David
School of Computer Science, University College Dublin, Dublin, Ireland.
Health Service Executive, Cork, Ireland.
JMIR Ment Health. 2019 Aug 26;6(8):e13524. doi: 10.2196/13524.
Young people are particularly vulnerable to experiencing mental health difficulties, but very few seek treatment or help during this time. Online help-seeking may offer an additional domain where young people can seek aid for mental health difficulties, yet our current understanding of how young people seek help online is limited.
This was an exploratory study which aimed to investigate the online help-seeking behaviors and preferences of young people.
This study made use of an anonymous online survey. Young people aged 18-25, living in Ireland, were recruited through social media ads on Twitter and Facebook and participated in the survey.
A total of 1308 respondents completed the survey. Many of the respondents (80.66%; 1055/1308) indicated that they would use their mobile phone to look online for help for a personal or emotional concern. When looking for help online, 82.57% (1080/1308) of participants made use of an Internet search, while 57.03% (746/1308) made use of a health website. When asked about their satisfaction with these resources, 36.94% (399/1080) indicated that they were satisfied or very satisfied with an Internet search while 49.33% (368/746) indicated that they were satisfied or very satisfied with a health website. When asked about credibility, health websites were found to be the most trustworthy, with 39.45% (516/1308) indicating that they found them to be trustworthy or very trustworthy. Most of the respondents (82.95%; 1085/1308) indicated that a health service logo was an important indicator of credibility, as was an endorsement by schools and colleges (54.97%; 719/1308). Important facilitators of online help-seeking included the anonymity and confidentiality offered by the Internet, with 80% (1046/1308) of the sample indicating that it influenced their decision a lot or quite a lot. A noted barrier was being uncertain whether information on an online resource was reliable, with 55.96% (732/1308) of the respondents indicating that this influenced their decision a lot or quite a lot.
Findings from this survey suggest that young people are engaging with web-based mental health resources to assist them with their mental health concerns. However, levels of satisfaction with the available resources vary. Young people are engaging in strategies to assign credibility to web-based resources, however, uncertainty around their reliability is a significant barrier to online help-seeking.
年轻人尤其容易出现心理健康问题，但在此期间很少有人寻求治疗或帮助。在线求助可能提供了一个额外的领域，年轻人可以在其中为心理健康问题寻求帮助，但我们目前对年轻人如何在线寻求帮助的了解有限。
这是一项探索性研究，旨在调查年轻人的在线求助行为和偏好。
本研究采用匿名在线调查。通过推特和脸书上的社交媒体广告招募了居住在爱尔兰的18至25岁的年轻人参与调查。
共有1308名受访者完成了调查。许多受访者（80.66%；1055/1308）表示，他们会使用手机在网上为个人或情感问题寻求帮助。在网上寻求帮助时，82.57%（1080/1308）的参与者使用了互联网搜索，而57.03%（746/1308）的参与者使用了健康网站。当被问及对这些资源的满意度时，36.94%（399/1080）表示对互联网搜索感到满意或非常满意，49.33%（368/746）表示对健康网站感到满意或非常满意。当被问及可信度时，健康网站被认为是最值得信赖的，39.45%（516/1308）表示他们认为健康网站值得信赖或非常值得信赖。大多数受访者（82.95%；1085/1308）表示，健康服务标志是可信度的重要指标，学校和学院的认可也是如此（54.97%；719/1308）。在线求助的重要促进因素包括互联网提供的匿名性和保密性，80%（1046/1308）的样本表示这对他们的决定有很大或相当大的影响。一个明显的障碍是不确定在线资源上的信息是否可靠，55.96%（732/1308）的受访者表示这对他们的决定有很大或相当大的影响。
本次调查结果表明，年轻人正在利用基于网络的心理健康资源来解决他们的心理健康问题。然而，对现有资源的满意度各不相同。年轻人正在采取策略来确定基于网络的资源的可信度，然而，其可靠性的不确定性是在线求助的一个重大障碍。
