JMIR Publications

ABSTRACT

Background:

It is well reported that young people are at high risk of mental health concerns, more so than at any other time in lifespan development. What is less addressed is situational factors that young people report as impacting their wellbeing. Specifically, family discord. Kids Helpline, a national service in Australia that provides free counselling online and by telephone to young people in distress, report that family discord and wellbeing issues are one of the majority of concerns reported by clients. In order to meet the preferences that young people seek to access counselling support, Kids Helpline have designed and trialled a custom built social network platform for group counselling young people experiencing family discord that impacts their wellbeing.

Objective:

This exploratory study is communicating findings of phase 1 of an innovation study in user and online counsellor experience, leading to an iterative design for a world-first, purpose built, social network to: 1) increase reach and quality of service by utilising a digital tool of preference for youth to engage peer-to-peer and peer-to-counsellor support in a safe online environment and; 2) provide the evidence-base to document the best-practice for online group counselling in a social network environment.

Methods:

The study utilised a Participatory Action Research design. Young people aged 13-25 (N=105), evaluated to be mild to moderate in depression or anxiety (not high risk) who contacted Kids Helpline were asked if they would like to trial the Social Network System (SNS) for peer-to-peer and counsellor-to-peer group support. Subjects were grouped into age cohorts of no more than 1 year above or below their reported age, and assigned to groups of no more than 36 in order to create a community of familiarity around age and problems experienced. Each group entered into a 8 week group counselling support program guided by counsellors making regular posts and providing topic specific content for psycho-education and discussion. Counsellors provided a weekly log of events to researchers, and at 2 weekly intervals, subjects provided qualitative and quantitative feedback through open ended questions and specific psychometric measures.

Results:

Qualitative results provided evidence of user support and benefits of the online group counselling environment. Counsellors also reported benefits of the modality of therapy delivery. Psychometric scales did not report significance in changes mood or affect. Counsellor and users reported improvements to the platform to increase user engagement.

Conclusions:

Phase 1 provided ‘proof of concept’ for this mode of online counselling delivery. Users and counsellors saw value in the model and innovation of the service. Phase 2 will address platform issues with changes to a new social network platform. Phase 2 will focus more broadly on mental health concerns raised by users and permit inclusion of a clinical population of young people experiencing depression and anxiety. Clinical Trial: Australian New Zealand Clinical Trial Registry ACTRN12616000518460 www.anzctr.org.au