Panditharatne Senuri, Gibson Kerry
School of Psychology, Waipapa Taumata Rau University of Auckland, Tāmaki Makaurau Auckland, 1010 Aotearoa, New Zealand.
School of Psychology, Waipapa Taumata Rau University of Auckland, Tāmaki Makaurau, Auckland, 1010, Aotearoa, New Zealand.
Health Promot Int. 2025 May 13;40(3). doi: 10.1093/heapro/daaf068.
There are well-recognized barriers that prevent young people from accessing timely mental health support and there is an opportunity to promote their engagement with professional support through websites associated with a mental health service. This Aotearoa, New Zealand-based study aimed to identify the elements of a website that young people believed would improve engagement with the service. A co-design method enlisted young people's expertise in making recommendations for mental health service websites. Sixty-seven young people, aged 16-24 years, took part in one of six participatory workshops. The data was analysed using reflexive thematic analysis. Recommendations were for the inclusion of information that validated young people's help-seeking; showed them exactly what it would be like to use the service; helped them to make informed choices about the support they wanted, and told them what steps they needed to take to get access to the service. Recommendations also included the use of personal stories from other young people illustrating the value of using the service, and for information to be conveyed in a tone that was authentic, respectful, and nonjudgemental. Young people also wanted good functionality from a website and preferred video and other visual modes of presentation. This research offers clear recommendations for websites aimed at improving youth engagement with professional mental health support. A youth-informed approach to website design has the potential to overcome some of the barriers that prevent this population from reaching out for help.
存在一些公认的障碍阻碍年轻人及时获得心理健康支持，并且有机会通过与心理健康服务相关的网站来促进他们与专业支持的接触。这项基于新西兰奥塔哥的研究旨在确定年轻人认为会改善与该服务接触的网站元素。一种共同设计方法征集了年轻人在为心理健康服务网站提出建议方面的专业知识。67名年龄在16至24岁之间的年轻人参加了六个参与式工作坊中的一个。使用反思性主题分析对数据进行了分析。建议包括纳入能证实年轻人寻求帮助行为的信息；向他们准确展示使用该服务会是什么样子；帮助他们对自己想要的支持做出明智选择，并告诉他们获取该服务需要采取哪些步骤。建议还包括使用其他年轻人的个人故事来说明使用该服务的价值，以及信息应以真实、尊重和无评判的语气传达。年轻人还希望网站具备良好的功能，并且更喜欢视频和其他视觉呈现方式。这项研究为旨在改善年轻人与专业心理健康支持接触的网站提供了明确建议。以年轻人为导向的网站设计方法有可能克服一些阻碍这一群体寻求帮助的障碍。
