E-Mental Health Care Among Young Adults and Help-Seeking Behaviors: A Transversal Study in a Community Sample

Abstract

BackgroundThe Internet is widely used by young people and could serve to improve insufficient access to mental health care. Previous information on this topic comes from selected samples (students or self-selected individuals) and is incomplete.ObjectiveIn a community sample of young adults, we aimed to describe frequency of e-mental health care study-associated factors and to determine if e-mental health care was associated with the use of conventional services for mental health care.MethodsUsing data from the 2011 wave of the TEMPO cohort study of French young adults (N=1214, aged 18-37 years), we examined e-mental health care and associated factors following Andersen’s behavioral model: predisposing factors (age, sex, educational attainment, professional activity, living with a partner, children, childhood negative events, chronic somatic disease, parental history of depression), enabling factors (social support, financial difficulties, parents’ income), and needs-related factors (lifetime major depression or anxiety disorders, suicidal ideation, ADHD, cannabis use). We compared traditional service use (seeking help from a general practitioner, a psychiatrist, a psychologist; antidepressant or anxiolytics/hypnotics use) between participants who used e-mental health care versus those who did not.ResultsOverall, 8.65% (105/1214) of participants reported seeking e-mental health care in case of psychological difficulties in the preceding 12 months and 15.7% (104/664) reported psychological difficulties. Controlling for all covariates, the likelihood of e-mental health care was positively associated with 2 needs-related factors, lifetime major depression or anxiety disorder (OR 2.36, 95% CI 1.36-4.09) and lifetime suicidal ideation (OR 1.91, 95% CI 1.40-2.60), and negatively associated with a predisposing factor: childhood life events (OR 0.60, 95% CI 0.38-0.93). E-mental health care did not hinder traditional care, but was associated with face-to-face psychotherapy (66.2%, 51/77 vs 52.4%, 186/355, P=.03).ConclusionsE-mental health care represents an important form of help-seeking behavior for young adults. Professionals and policy makers should take note of this and aim to improve the quality of online information on mental health care and to use this fact in clinical care.

Social inequalities in health information seeking among young adults in Montreal

“…These findings support the "complementary hypothesis": when examining the profiles' estimated prevalence given participants' most likely class membership, three out of the five profiles (approximately 85% of participants) had a high probability of seeking more than one source when in need of health information, with one profile (42% of participants) having a high probability of seeking all available sources. Moreover, these results show that alternative sources of information such as the Internet do not seem to substitute established sources such as friends, family or health professionals (Beck et al, 2014, Younes et al, 2015. This suggests that asking 'what sources are sought?'…”

“…We propose that individuals who seek multiple sources of health information have the best capacity to address health-related concerns and information needs. A growing body of literature supports this hypothesis (Ybarra and Suman, 2008, Ruppel and Rains, 2012, Beck et al, 2014, Cunningham et al, 2014, Younes et al, 2015, and suggests that the use of multiple sources may be beneficial to health (Redmond et al, 2010).…”

“…Therefore, studies of young adults' health information seeking behaviour (HISB) and its socioeconomic distribution can contribute to a better understanding of their capacity to adopt healthpromoting practices. Although young adulthood is now considered to be critical to the establishment of these practices (IOM, 2015), research on HISB in young adults is relatively limited (Percheski & Hargittai, 2011, Ybarra & Suman, 2008, Younes et al, 2015. Therefore, this paper aims to tackle two important issues pertaining to HISB in young adults.…”

New Frontiers in Healthcare and Technology: Internet-and Web-Based Mental Options Emerge to Complement In-Person and Telepsychiatric Care Options

“…A community sample of young adults assessed the impact of patient-related factors, for e-MH care and the impact on use of conventional services for MH care in France [52]. Factors were organized into: 1) predisposing factors (age, sex, educational attainment, professional activity, living with a partner, children, childhood negative events, chronic somatic disease, parental history of depression); 2) enabling factors (social support, financial difficulties, parents' income); and 3) needs-related factors (lifetime major depression or anxiety disorders, suicidal ideation, ADHD, cannabis use).…”

“…For loved ones of these patients, the simulated reality game "Second Life" described below, when used as an educational tool, may improve the user's understanding of psychotic symptoms (i.e., auditory-and/or visual hallucinations [50]. Health promotion strategies are typically at freestanding websites [51].A community sample of young adults assessed the impact of patient-related factors, for e-MH care and the impact on use of conventional services for MH care in France [52]. Factors were organized into: 1) predisposing factors (age, sex, educational attainment, professional activity, living with a partner, children, childhood negative events, chronic somatic disease, parental history of depression); 2) enabling factors (social support, financial difficulties, parents' income); and 3) needs-related factors (lifetime major depression or anxiety disorders, suicidal ideation, ADHD, cannabis use).…”