Encouraging young men's participation in mental health research and treatment: perspectives in our technological age
Abstract
Young men have traditionally been under-represented in mental health research, which has had significant implications for the validity of reported findings and for the delivery of effective mental health services to this group. Innovative strategies are needed to recruit young men to mental health research and treatment. The internet, and in particular social media, offer a promising new way to engage with young men around their mental health. Youth participation approaches also offer the potential to enhance young men's engagement with research and mental health services. In this article we draw on our experience with these approaches, we discuss their potential strengths and limitations and describe opportunities for technology-based engagement with young men on issues of mental health.
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The predominance of male participants in the study may be attributed to Facebook recruitment for mental health research.
“the fact that more males participated in our study may be attributed to Facebook recruitment for mental health research, which has been shown to be an effective strategy for recruiting young males [42].”
From Young People’s Barriers and Facilitators of Engagement with Web-Based Mental Health Interventions for Anxiety and Depression: A Qualitative Study (2024) · cites this paper as [42]
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- Authors
- Ellis, L. A., McCabe, K. L., Rahilly, K. A., Nicholas, M. A., Davenport, T. A., Burns, J. M., & Hickie, I. B.
- Affiliations
- The University of Sydney (AU)
- Inspire Foundation (GB)
- ORCID
- Venue
- Clinical Investigation
- Publisher
- OMICS Publishing Group
- Published
- 2014-10
- Volume
- 4
- Issue
- 10
- Pages
- 881-888
- ISSN
- 2041-6792 (ISSN-L)
- 2041-6806
- OpenAlex
- W2144071184
- Cited by
- 38
- References
- 47
- Citations by year
- 2026: 3 · 2025: 5 · 2024: 4 · 2023: 5 · 2022: 2 · 2021: 2 · 2020: 5 · 2019: 2 · 2018: 6 · 2017: 4
- FWCI
- 1.70
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Clinical Investigation (publishedVersion)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Health › Social Media in Health Education
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Social Psychology › Mental Health Treatment and Access
- Social Sciences › Gender Studies › Gender Roles and Identity Studies
- Keywords
- young men, mental health research, research participation, underrepresentation in research, social media, youth participation, mental health services, recruitment strategies
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