Cited by 165Mental Health Treatment and AccessDigital Mental Health InterventionsSuicide and Self-Harm Studies

Evaluation of an online psychoeducation intervention to promote mental health help seeking attitudes and intentions among young adults: Randomised controlled trial

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Taylor-Rodgers, Eleanor, Batterham, Philip J.·2014·Journal of Affective Disorders

Abstract

BACKGROUND: Research has consistently identified a disparity between the prevalence of mental health concerns among young adults and their rates of formal help seeking. However, a few randomised controlled trials have identified effective interventions for increasing formal help seeking among young adults. The aim of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of a brief online psychoeducational intervention, targeting depression, anxiety and suicide stigma, for increasing positive attitudes towards help seeking and increasing help seeking intentions among young adults. METHOD: The study followed a single-blind parallel group randomized controlled trial design with 67 young adult (18-25 years) Australian participants, assigned to receive online psychoeducation (n=33) or online attention-matched control information (n=34) over 3 weeks. Participants in the experimental group received information on depression, anxiety, and suicide. The control group received information unrelated to mental health. Primary outcome measures were mental health literacy, mental illness stigma, attitudes toward professional help seeking and intentions to seek help. Secondary outcome variables were symptomology, satisfaction and adherence. RESULTS: Significant between-group differences were found for the pre- to post-test, including increased anxiety literacy (Cohen׳s d=0.65), decreased depression stigma (d=0.53), and increased help seeking attitudes and intentions for the experimental group (d=0.58 and d=0.53, respectively). LIMITATIONS: Due to the small sample size and homogenous nature of the sample, generalisations should be made with caution. CONCLUSIONS: This study demonstrates the utility and effectiveness of a brief online psychoeducation intervention for promoting help seeking among young adults.

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Crossref · 10.1016/j.jad.2014.06.047

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  • Taylor-Rodgers and Batterham found no significant reductions in either anxiety- or suicide attempt related personal stigma.

    “However, they found no significant reductions in either anxiety- or suicide attempt related- personal stigma.”

    From Self-help interventions to reduce self-stigma in people with mental health problems: A systematic literature review (2020) · cites this paper as Taylor-Rodgers & Batterham, 2014

    Section 3.3 (page unavailable) reports no significant post-test differences between the intervention and control groups for anxiety or suicide stigma. However, Section 2.6.2 (page unavailable) says the suicide-stigma measure describes people who die by suicide, not people who attempt suicide; the claim’s “suicide attempt related” qualification is unsupported. (LLM, conf=0.86)

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  • The results were mixed for other areas of personal stigma, such as anxiety, suicide, and PTSD.

    “However, the results were mixed for other areas of personal stigma, such as anxiety, suicide, and PTSD (Gulliver et al., 2012; Nickerson et al., 2019; Taylor-Rodgers & Batterham, 2014).”

    From Self-help interventions to reduce self-stigma in people with mental health problems: A systematic literature review (2020) · cites this paper as Taylor-Rodgers & Batterham, 2014

    Section 3.3 (Stigma; page unavailable) reports nonsignificant results for anxiety and suicide stigma, alongside a significant reduction in depression stigma, supporting a mixed pattern across the outcomes this trial measured. Section 2.6.2 lists depression, anxiety, and suicide stigma measures, but not PTSD; this source does not support the PTSD part of the citing sentence. (LLM, conf=0.84)

    Experimental — accuracy not yet measured
  • This approach to care is standardized and is well-used by many web-based mental health services.

    “This approach to care is standardized and is well-used by many web-based mental health services [35,36].”

    From Providing Self-Led Mental Health Support Through an Artificial Intelligence–Powered Chat Bot (Leora) to Meet the Demand of Mental Health Care (2023) · cites this paper as [36]

    Section 2.4 (Interventions; page unavailable) says the study’s webpages followed a common format and drew information from several mental-health websites. That supports use of a consistent format in this intervention, but does not establish that the approach is standardized or widely used across web-based mental health services. (LLM, conf=0.76)

    Experimental — accuracy not yet measured
  • The Whitu app incorporates therapeutic tools and techniques with proven clinical effectiveness for young people.

    “A key strength of our study is the incorporation of therapeutic tools and techniques with proven clinical effectiveness for young people, such as recognising and rating emotions, commonly used in psychoeducation (Taylor-Rodgers and Batterham, 2014), or using relaxation techniques and coping strategies, commonly used in CBT (Spence et al., 2011).”

    From Pilot study of a well-being app to support New Zealand young people during the COVID-19 pandemic (2021) · cites this paper as Taylor-Rodgers and Batterham, 2014

    The Interventions section describes psychoeducation for young adults, and the Discussion reports improvements in mental health literacy, stigma and help-seeking outcomes. But the paper does not identify recognising or rating emotions as techniques it tested, and the Discussion reports no significant change in depression or anxiety symptoms. It therefore does not establish the claimed clinical effectiveness of those specific techniques. (LLM, conf=0.82)

    Experimental — accuracy not yet measured
  • Taylor-Rodgers and Batterham (2014) found moderate effect sizes pre- to post-test, with decreased depression stigma for the experimental group (d = 0.53).

    “One study (Taylor-Rodgers & Batterham, 2014) found moderate effect sizes pre- to post-test, with decreased depression stigma for the experimental group ( d = 0.53).”

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Cites

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1 of the 24 references couldn’t be matched to a known paper.

Research works printed but not linked: 2

  1. Department of Health and Ageing, 2011. National Survey of Mental Health Literacy and Stigma. In: Reavley, N.J., Jorm, A.F. (Eds.), University of Melbourne, Canberra (Eds.).
  2. Fischer, E.H., Farina, A., 1995. Attitudes toward seeking professional psychological help: a shortened for and considerations for research. J. Coll. Stud. Dev. 36 (4), 368-373.

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Authors
Taylor-Rodgers, E., & Batterham, P. J.
Affiliations
Australian National University (AU)
Corresponding author
Batterham, Philip J.
Venue
Journal of Affective Disorders
Publisher
Elsevier BV
Published
2014-10
Volume
168
Pages
65-71
ISSN
0165-0327 (ISSN-L)
OpenAlex
W2020738998
Cited by
165
References
24
Citations by year
2026: 6 · 2025: 16 · 2024: 21 · 2023: 15 · 2022: 23 · 2021: 17 · 2020: 18 · 2019: 11 · 2018: 10 · 2017: 14 · 2016: 10 · 2015: 4
FWCI
13.83
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Locations
  • Journal of Affective Disorders (publishedVersion, public-domain)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
  • ANU Open Research (Australian National University) (submittedVersion)
Funders
  • Medical Research Council
  • National Health and Medical Research Council (1035262)
Topics
  • Social Sciences › Psychology › Social Psychology › Mental Health Treatment and Access
  • Social Sciences › Psychology › Applied Psychology › Digital Mental Health Interventions
  • Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Suicide and Self-Harm Studies
Keywords
online psychoeducation, help-seeking intentions, help-seeking attitudes, young adults, mental health literacy, depression stigma, suicide stigma, depression
MeSH terms
Adult, Attitude to Health, Australia, Computer-Assisted Instruction, Female, Health Education, Health Promotion, Humans, Male, Mental Health, Patient Acceptance of Health Care, Single-Blind Method, Sample Size, Internet, Intention, Young Adult

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