Abstract
BackgroundYoung 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.ObjectiveThis was an exploratory study which aimed to investigate the online help-seeking behaviors and preferences of young people.MethodsThis 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.ResultsA 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.ConclusionsFindings 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.
Highlights
There is a growing recognition of the public health challenge associated with mental disorders [1,2,3,4]
The results from the General Help-Seeking Questionnaire (GHSQ) were like findings from previous studies, with a very high propensity for respondents to not seek help at all (45.2%; 591/1308)
Given the proportion of young people who encounter mental health difficulties and turn to the Internet to meet some of their mental health needs, it is important that researchers and service providers have an accurate and holistic understanding of what these needs encompass
Summary
There is a growing recognition of the public health challenge associated with mental disorders [1,2,3,4]. It has been recognized that young people are especially vulnerable to experiencing mental health difficulties, with very few seeking treatment or help during this time [5,6]. Young people are vulnerable to experiencing mental health difficulties, but very few seek treatment or help during this time. 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. Young people are engaging in strategies to assign credibility to web-based resources, uncertainty around their reliability is a significant barrier to online help-seeking
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Free) 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
