Enhancing help-seeking efficacy in a sustainable and adaptive digital environment

BACKGROUND: Help-seeking efficacy is directly related to Mental Health Literacy (MHL) as one of its four important components and has been successfully addressed in digital mental health interventions for youth. However, these interventions are often not sustainable and not sufficiently diversity-sensitive. The 3-year Erasmus+ project me_HeLi-D (mental health literacy and diversity) aims to develop a digital, adaptable, diversity-sensitive tool to promote mental health and MHL among youth (12-15 years). METHODS: The tool-development is based on two pillars: thorough literature reviews and the voices of young people. Through a participatory research process, the design and content of the modules are co-created with the target group. The tool is implemented in Moodle to ensure high accessibility and flexibility and to allow updates and monitoring by the IT-department, which guarantees sustainability beyond the project duration. A total of 27 mental health interventions were systematically reviewed for the module addressing help-seeking efficacy, and three of them reported effective improvement in help-seeking behavior. Among these, an app using character vignettes resulted in greater increases in well-being and help-seeking intentions in the intervention group. RESULTS: Based on these findings and feedback from the participatory activities, an activity promoting help-seeking behavior was developed for the tool using a narrative format. The help-seeking activity, its content, and its goals are presented. In addition, the digital implementation is discussed, addressing issues of adaptability and sustainability in relation to the deployment plan in Moodle. CONCLUSIONS: The importance of a participatory, evidence-based approach and consideration of diversity-sensitivity and digital sustainability in the development of a digital mental health tool was emphasized.