Accepted for/Published in: JMIR Formative Research
Date Submitted: May 12, 2023
Open Peer Review Period: May 12, 2023 - Jul 7, 2023
Date Accepted: Nov 22, 2023
(closed for review but you can still tweet)
Designing an Online Navigation Website to Support Access to Youth Mental Health Services: A Qualitative Study
ABSTRACT
Background:
Many young people with mental health problems do not readily seek help or receive treatment and support. One way to address low help-seeking behaviour is to improve access to information on mental health services and how to navigate the mental health system via an online tool. Seeking input from the end users (young people and parents/caregivers) on key features of the tool is imperative to ensure it is relevant, engaging and likely to meet their needs and expectations.
Objective:
To investigate young person and parent/caregiver views on the design, content, functioning and user experience of an online mental health navigation website to support connection to mental health services for children and young people aged 0-25 years.
Methods:
A total of four online focus groups were conducted: two with young people aged 16 years and older (n = 15) and two with parents/caregivers (n = 13). Focus groups were structured around a series of guiding questions to explore participants’ views on content, features, user experience, and design of a mental health navigation website. Focus groups were audio recorded with detailed notes taken. In addition, 53 16-25 year-olds and 97 parents/caregivers completed an online survey, comprising closed- and open-ended questions; open-ended responses were included with the focus group data in the qualitative analysis. All qualitative data were analysed using thematic analysis.
Results:
Two topic areas and seven themes were developed. The first topic area covered the types of information needs of adolescents and parents. Themes within this concerned the scope of the navigation website, as well as the website containing up-to-date and practical information on how to navigate the whole help-seeking process. The second topic area covered website features that would be beneficial and included the consideration of the website design; search engines; supported navigation; and forums, reviews, and user accounts.
Conclusions:
This study provides important insights into the navigation needs of young people and parents/caregivers in seeking mental health services. Key findings identified through this research has directly informed the development of MindMap, an online youth navigation website providing a searchable database of local services, including a clear description, their location and potential wait times. The website can be navigated independently or with support.
Citation
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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.