What purpose does a website linked to a mental health anti-stigma campaign serve? Evaluation of the Open UP Website using surveys and Google Analytics

Abstract

Background/Objectives: Open Up is the grass-roots anti-discrimination project run by Mind (mental health charity for England and Wales) and led by people with lived experience of mental health problems. It is one of the major components of the England-wide anti-stigma campaign „Time to Change“ that aims to reduce stigma towards mental health issues. As part of this campaign, Open Up has created the website „open-up.org.uk“ that provides information on mental health issues, Open Up events and it also gives the opportunity to exchange information and views on blogs. As part of the official evaluation, The Institute of Psychiatry at King's College London has set up an online survey that users could fill in, so use of and satisfaction with the site can be investigated in addition to data from Google Analytics. Methods: Data from Google Analytics was compiled to learn about the frequency and pattern of the website usage of all visitors. A supplemental online survey consisted of 7 closed questions inquiring about the effects of website use, satisfaction with the site, how people found out about the site and who they considered to be the closest person known with mental health problems. In addition, an open ended question prompted website users to make further comments which were analysed using thematic analysis. These data were compiled together to offer a framework for discussing the results found in Google Analytics and the survey with regard to reported benefit of one or several website visits. Results: Google Analytics revealed data on over 5,000 unique visitors for the year of 2010. Additionally, 27 visitors filled in the online survey between April and August 2010. Detailed findings will be presented for: (i) website satisfaction, (ii) self-reported motivation for and effects of the website use, (iii) qualitative analysis of comments provided about the website, and (iv) results from Google Analytics on the trends and profile of site usage. Discussion/Conclusions: The results help us to understand the role this website seems to play in the Time to Change anti-stigma campaign in terms of empowerment, providing information or facilitating contacts with other people associated with this campaign. Knowledge of the quality and specific function of such a website should help to improve and tailor its content to the aims defined by its purpose and use. As there were repairs performed on the website over the summer, this may have influenced low response rates. We will also discuss, however, practical issues around the evaluation of websites. The general usefulness of having websites as part of an anti-stigma campaign will also be discussed. Funding: Big Lottery, Comic Relief and Shift. Keywords: Discrimination, stigmatization, mental disorders.