A Scottish Story: The use of the internet to raise awareness of mental health problems in teenagers Cathy Richards; Head of Adolescent Psychology, Young People’s Unit, Edinburgh Thomas Hacker; Assistant Psychologist, Young People’s Unit, Edinburgh

Scotland’s National Programme for Improving Mental Health and Well-being Key Areas: –Raising awareness and promoting good mental health and well-being. –Eliminating stigma and discrimination –Preventing suicide. –Promoting and supporting recovery

Support to Priority Areas Six priority areas of which one is improving the mental health of children and young people. EG: Anti-stigma campaign for young people

Significant numbers (1 in 30- approx 10,000 in Scotland) Lasts 7-9 months on average High risk of relapse Consequences to development Mixed clinical picture-depressed mood, anxiety and irritability Education as part of treatment Importance of early detection and intervention in teenagers.co.uk

Information Technology and Health Potential to enhance concentration and learning Medium which is accessible and relevant to young people only form of help-seeking boys use as much as girls( Gould 2002) Successful application in other areas of health education

Summary of Aims Aimed primarily at young people but also accessible to professionals and parents –Information and early recognition –Self help and peer support –Inform help-seeking Use in educational setting Clinical use Accurate internet resource

Evaluation Aims Is a multimedia design acceptable to young people? Do multimedia formats increase accessibility to health care information? Consultation and collaboration with young people Using feedback to inform final design

Pilot Study - Method 5 Schools within Edinburgh Personal and Social Education Class Self Completion Questionnaire Semi-Structured Group Discussion Secondary School Pupils n= 87 Service Users n= 10 Professionals n= 12

Pilot Study - Results Regular Computer Access – 94% of School Pupils, 90% of Service Users No Previous Education About Depression –71.4% of School Pupils, 80% of Service Users Understanding of Information –13% of School Pupils, 10% of Service Users, 45% of Professionals perceived information about depression as difficult to understand Knowledge Increased –44.2% School Sample, 70% of Service Users

Launches 99% of professional said they would use the resources and could identify how they would use the resources in their workplace. 100% of educational professionals intended to use the resources

Ongoing Evaluation 87 professionals returned questionnaires 92% reported that they would use the resource in their workplace 89% rated the usefulness of the CD-Rom as 4 or above on a 5 item Likert scale. 96% found it easy to install 94% found it easy to us

Webstats Since the launch the website has had over 60,000 hits The most frequently used keywords employed to find the resource on the web were “depression in teenagers”, “teenagers”, and “depression and teenagers” 13% did not access the site directly they were most likely to use search engines such as “Google” or “Yahoo”. The site has received hits from all over the world

Where Now? & Schools in Scotland Others working with young people

National Anti-Stigma Campaign for Scotland Children and Young People campaign

Aim of ‘see me….’ End stigma/discrimination towards people with mental health problems Break down negative attitudes Raise awareness of mental health Target audience The general public – our aim is to reach as many people as possible

Developing the Children & Young People Strand 44 groups of young people, aged 9-22 from across Scotland, including those who have experience of mental health problems 17 groups of adults working with young people Almost 500 participants in total Consulted on all aspects of campaign - style, tone, content, language, look and feel Delivery methods – TV, posters/leaflets, website and more…

Launch 86,000 materials distributed PR – 9 publications, 10 radio and 3 TV programmes Half featured young media volunteers telling their story 35,000 hits to website on the day of launch – 6 times as many as the day before

Site design informed by young people’s views Developed for young people parents professionals Aims to inspire anti- stigma work, provide signposts to support and further information

Website appears on all materials and advertising Provides further information on stigma, mental health problems, ideas and resources to take the campaign forward in schools, community etc Personal stories How to challenge stigma – Stigma Stop Watch Links to services for direct help and support Order materials, download adverts, images and information Connecting and involving

‘see me….’ TV Advert Children and Young People TV Advert (Jan 2005)