JMIR Publications

ABSTRACT

Background:

In Egypt, the shortage of mental health services, particularly for adolescents and young adults is apparent. Electronic mental health (EMH) solutions have been brought forward as solutions to bridge the gap and better address the needs of young people. However, EMH is new to Egypt and crucial to its implementation and success is the acceptability, access and appropriateness for the tar-get populations

Objective:

Our objective was to utilize an online cross-sectional survey to identify key areas that need to be addressed in order for Electronic mental health (EMH) solutions to be implemented to the youth population in Egypt.

Methods:

An online cross-sectional survey was distributed among medical students at Tanta University in Egypt. Of the 707 individuals who completed the survey (90.9% response rate), 60.5% were fe-male, 62.0% lived in urban and suburban areas, and the mean age of the sample was 20.5 (±1.8) years old.

Results:

The vast majority of participants had already used the internet to find information about mental health problems (73.8%), but the information was unsatisfactory for about half of them (45.6%). Almost all students reported that they would prefer internet-based therapy if EMH were available through a trustworthy national internet platform for youth mental health (85%). Students believed that emotional difficulties, social support, and coping strategies were the main topics that EMH should help with. The most common perceived barriers for using EMH in Egypt were concerns about privacy (54%) and a lack of technology literacy and unfamiliarity with EMH (50%).

Conclusions:

EMH is a promising strategy addressing gaps in mental health care for young people, who are open to it. To implement a digital system of care and engage youth they should be involved in co-development and design. Universities are a very good place to start such a development for the country.