JMIR Publications

ABSTRACT

Background:

One in five young people grow up in a family where at least one parent has experienced a mental health problem and/or substance use concern. Compared to their same aged peers, these youth are at higher risk of academic failure, being taken into care and acquiring a substance abuse and/or mental health issue. There is a paucity of accessible, age appropriate interventions that address the needs of this group.

Objective:

A six week, web-based intervention, mi.spot (mental illness: supported, preventative, online, targeted) was developed, based on previous research and the theory of competence enhancement. This paper describes the protocol for a randomised controlled trial, and the usage, safety and acceptability of the intervention.

Methods:

Participants will be recruited through social media. Seventy 18-25-year-old Australians who grew up with parents with a mental illness and/or substance use concern will participate in a two-arm parallel randomised controlled trial. The assessment will consist of a baseline measurement (t0) and two follow-up periods, post-test (t2) and six-week follow-up (t3) using the Mental Health Continuum short form, the Depression, Anxiety and Stress Scale, the COPE inventory, the General Help Seeking Questionnaire, the Social Connectedness Scale, the Mental Health Literacy Scale, the General Self-Efficacy Scale and the Attribution of responsibility for parental mental illness measure. Impact will be examined pre, post and follow-up using analyses of variance that will include a within-subjects factor (time) and a between subjects factor (intervention/control). Individual interviews with facilitators will ascertain intervention feasibility, and interviews with participants will ascertain intervention acceptability. Interview data will be analysed within a qualitative framework. Usage (data analytics) across site features, and several indicators of clinical and online safety will also be reported.

Results:

The impact of mi.spot will be examined pre, post and follow-up using analyses of variance on each of the measures outlined above. There will be a within-subjects factor (time) and a between subjects factor (intervention/control). Data analysis will employ the intention-to-treat principle by including all participants in analyses. Qualitative, interview data will be analysed using Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis, along with respondent validation.

Conclusions:

The results of this study have the potential to deliver reliable evidence on a web-based intervention that can potentially make a difference to the lives of vulnerable young adults. Implementation guidelines need to be developed to embed the intervention in different service sectors. Clinical Trial: Trial registration number: ACTRN12619000335190. Registered on 05/03/2019. Monash University Human Research Ethics Committee (reference number:2019-18660-30434). Approved on the 17.04.2019