JMIR Publications

ABSTRACT

Background:

Online counselling and support has become increasingly commonplace for children and young people (CYP). Currently there is limited research that focuses upon the mechanisms of change within complex telepsychology platforms, a factor that makes designing and implementing outcome measures challenging.

Objective:

This project set out to articulate a Theory of Change (ToC) for Kooth, an online therapy and support platform for children and young people (CYP).

Methods:

A collaborative qualitative research design, involving professional staff, academic partners, and young people was utilised to develop the ToC. Three major reflective phases were engaged in. These were, (i) a scoping workshop involving professional staff and academic partners, (ii) a series of explorative projects were completed to inform the development of the ToC, and (iii) the draft ToC was reviewed for coherence by key stakeholders (young people, online professionals and service managers).

Results:

The collaboratively developed ToC is presented. This is divided up into (i) the conditions that lead to individuals wanting to access online therapy and support (e.g. individuals wanting support there and then/quickly), (ii) the mode of service delivery (e.g. skilled and experienced professionals able to build empathetic relationships with CYP), and (iii) the observed and reported changes that occur as a consequence of using the service (e.g. individuals being better able to manage current and future situations).

Conclusions:

Developing the ToC helps to shed light upon how online therapy and support services aid the mental health and wellbeing of CYP. Further, it helps to understand the development of ‘Positive Virtual Ecosystems’ (+VE) and can be used to devise evaluative tools for CYP telepsychology providers.