Digital interventions can reach a wide audience of young people who commonly use the Internet to find health resources and specifically talk about their mental health, thereby serving as a potential bridge to face-to-face psychotherapy. Digital health interventions may be a promising avenue to change these negative health beliefs, particularly among young people. For example, youth who do not seek help have a higher degree of self-stigma, as well as self-reliance, or a belief that they do not need others’ help. A primary predictor of not utilizing mental health services is the harboring of negative beliefs about mental illness and treatment seeking. Alarmingly, as per a 2017 national survey, less than one third of suicidal youth had used mental health services.
Suicide is the second most common cause of death in adolescents and young adults in the United States the most common risk factor for suicide is mental illness. Subsequent interventions are planned to increase site engagement and to evaluate efficacy in increasing uptake of primary care–recommended depression and/or anxiety treatment. Iterative recruitment resulted in incremental improvements to the site.Ĭonclusions: The SOVA site met feasibility goals of recruiting almost 100 users and establishing acceptable usability. The participants reported to have liked the “easy-to-understand format” and “positive, helpful atmosphere,” but they also reported a desire for greater social interaction. Median number of users rated the user-friendliness of the site as “good.” The average SUS score was 71.2% (SD 18.7), or a “C-grade,” which correlated to an acceptable range. Out of the total users who ever logged in, the mean of total log-ins over the entire study was 4.1 (SD 6.9). There were 46% (41/90) of eligible users who ever logged in. The average PHQ-9A score was 11.8 (SD 5.5), and for SCARED-C, 85% (80/94) of the participants reported a score consistent with being susceptible to a diagnosed anxiety disorder.
#ARTICLE SUBMISSION SITES 2018 FOR ANXIETY PROFESSIONAL#
Most participants (73% ) reported having taken prior professional psychological help. Results: Most of the 96 participants identified as female (75% ) and white (67% ). The 6-week follow-up measures taken in addition to the symptomatology, included feasibility (total number of log-ins), usability, and acceptability of SOVA using SUS. Baseline survey measures included demographics, symptomatology using the Patient Health Questionnaire-9 modified for adolescents (PHQ-9A) and Screen for Child Anxiety Related Disorders (SCARED-C), and mental health treatment history. Participants were screened out if they reported active suicidality or a prior suicide attempt. Methods: Adolescents and young adults (aged 14-26 years) with a self-reported history of depressive and/or anxiety symptoms were recruited to access the research website ().
Objective: The aim of this study was to evaluate the technological feasibility (at least 100 users on the site, logging in 12 to 18 times in the first 6 weeks) and acceptability of the SOVA site determined by the System Usability Scale (SUS).
This stakeholder-informed site underwent iterative user testing to evolve into its current version with daily blog posts, round-the-clock site moderation, and Web-based peer interaction to create an online support community. University of Pittsburgh School of MedicineĮmail: Supporting Our Valued Adolescents (SOVA), a social media website for adolescents, was designed to increase mental health literacy and address negative health beliefs toward depression and/or anxiety diagnosis and treatment.
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