Accepted for/Published in: Journal of Medical Internet Research
Date Submitted: Mar 1, 2019
Open Peer Review Period: Mar 4, 2019 - Apr 29, 2019
Date Accepted: Aug 19, 2019
(closed for review but you can still tweet)
Young people, Online Help-Seeking and Mental Health Difficulties: A Systematic Narrative Review
ABSTRACT
Background:
Young people frequently make use of the Internet as part of their day-to-day activities and this has extended to their help-seeking behaviour. Offline help-seeking is known to be impeded by a number of barriers including stigma and a preference for self-reliance. Online help-seeking may offer an additional domain where young people can seek help for mental health difficulties without being encumbered by these same barriers.
Objective:
The objective of this systematic literature review was to examine young people’s online help-seeking behaviours for mental health concerns. The review also aims to summarise reported benefits and limitations of online help-seeking for young people.
Methods:
A systematic review of peer-reviewed research articles from the following major electronic databases was conducted: PsychInfo, CINAHL, PubMed, Cochrane Library, ACM Digital Library and IEEE. The Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRIMSA) guidelines were followed. The search was conducted in August 2017. Young people’s ages were limited to 25 years and younger. The narrative synthesis approach to reviews was used to analyse the existing evidence in order to answer the literature review questions.
Results:
Overall 28 studies were included. The most common method of data collection was through the use of surveys. Study quality was moderate to strong. The review found that young people used the Internet to seek help because of its accessibility and immediacy. Their ability to find credible and reliable online resources is hampered by their mental health literacy. Young people perceived online help-seeking to offer a number of benefits but remained concerned about their privacy.
Conclusions:
Approaches for improving help-seeking by young people should take into account the role of the Internet and online resources as an adjunct to offline help-seeking. These approaches should include a focus on improving young people’s mental health literacy and providing credible online resources that are easily accessible.
Citation
Per the author's request the PDF is not available.
Copyright
© The authors. All rights reserved. This is a privileged document currently under peer-review/community review (or an accepted/rejected manuscript). Authors have provided JMIR Publications with an exclusive license to publish this preprint on it's website for review and ahead-of-print citation purposes only. While the final peer-reviewed paper may be licensed under a cc-by license on publication, at this stage authors and publisher expressively prohibit redistribution of this draft paper other than for review purposes.