A Scottish Story: The use of the internet to raise awareness of

mental health problems in teenagers

Cathy Richards; Head of Adolescent Psychology, Young People’s Unit, Edinburgh

Thomas Hacker; Assistant Psychologist, Young People’s Unit, Edinburgh

Scotland’s National Programme for Improving

Mental Health and Well-being

• Key Areas:– Raising awareness and promoting good

mental health and well-being.– Eliminating stigma and discrimination– Preventing suicide.– Promoting and supporting recovery

Support to Priority Areas

• Six priority areas of which one is improving the mental health of children and young people.

• EG:

• www.depressioninteenagers.com

• Anti-stigma campaign for young people

• Significant numbers (1 in 30- approx 10,000 in Scotland)

• Lasts 7-9 months on average• High risk of relapse• Consequences to development• Mixed clinical picture-depressed mood ,

anxiety and irritability• Education as part of treatment• Importance of early detection and intervention

www.depression inteenagers.co.uk

Information Technology and Health

• Potential to enhance concentration and learning

• Medium which is accessible and relevant to young people only form of help-seeking boys use as much as girls( Gould 2002)

• Successful application in other areas of health education

Summary of Aims

• Aimed primarily at young people but also accessible to professionals and parents

– Information and early recognition– Self help and peer support– Inform help-seeking

• Use in educational setting• Clinical use• Accurate internet resource

Evaluation Aims

• Is a multimedia design acceptable to young people?

• Do multimedia formats increase accessibility to health care information?

• Consultation and collaboration with

young people

• Using feedback to inform final design

Pilot Study - Method

• 5 Schools within Edinburgh• Personal and Social Education Class

• Self Completion Questionnaire

• Semi-Structured Group Discussion

• Secondary School Pupils n= 87

• Service Users n= 10

• Professionals n= 12

Pilot Study - Results• Regular Computer Access

– 94% of School Pupils, 90% of Service Users

• No Previous Education About Depression – 71.4% of School Pupils, 80% of Service Users

• Understanding of Information

– 13% of School Pupils, 10% of Service Users, 45% of

Professionals perceived information about depression as

difficult to understand

• Knowledge Increased– 44.2% School Sample, 70% of Service Users

Launches

• 99% of professional said they would use the resources and could identify how they would use the resources in their workplace.

• 100% of educational professionals intended to use the resources

Ongoing Evaluation

• 87 professionals returned questionnaires• 92% reported that they would use the

resource in their workplace• 89% rated the usefulness of the CD-Rom as

4 or above on a 5 item Likert scale.• 96% found it easy to install• 94% found it easy to us

Webstats

• Since the launch the website has had over 60,000 hits

• The most frequently used keywords employed to find the resource on the web were “depression in teenagers”, “teenagers”, and “depression and teenagers”

• 13% did not access the site directly they were most likely to use search engines such as “Google” or “Yahoo”.

• The site has received hits from all over the world

Where Now?• www.depressioninteenagers.co.uk &

www.depressioninteenagers.com

• Schools - 467 in Scotland• Others working with young people• www.stressandanxietyinteenagers.co.uk

National Anti-Stigma Campaign for Scotland

Children and Young People campaign

Aim of ‘see me….’• End stigma/discrimination towards people with mental

health problems

• Break down negative attitudes

• Raise awareness of mental health

Target audience• The general public – our aim is to reach as many

people as possible

Developing the Children & Young People Strand

• 44 groups of young people, aged 9-22 from across Scotland, including those who have experience of mental health problems

• 17 groups of adults working with young people

• Almost 500 participants in total

• Consulted on all aspects of campaign - style, tone, content, language, look and feel

• Delivery methods – TV, posters/leaflets, website and more…

Launch

• 86,000 materials distributed

• PR – 9 publications, 10 radio and 3 TV programmes

• Half featured young media volunteers telling their story

• 35,000 hits to website on the day of launch – 6 times as many as the day before

Site design informed byyoung people’s views

Developed for • young people• parents • professionals

Aims to inspire anti-stigma work, providesignposts to support and further information

• Website appears on all materials and advertising

• Provides further information on stigma, mental health problems, ideas and resources to take the campaign forward in schools, community etc

• Personal stories

• How to challenge stigma – Stigma Stop Watch

• Links to services for direct help and support

• Order materials, download adverts, images and information

Connecting and involving

‘see me….’ TV Advert

Children and Young People TV Advert (Jan 2005)