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Teens Using Screens for Help: Impact of Suicidal Ideation, Anxiety, and Depression Levels on Youth Preferences for Telemental Health Resources

BACKGROUND: High rates of mental illness, stress, and suicidality among teens constitute a major public health concern in the United States. However, treatment rates remain low, partially because of barriers that could be mitigated with tech-based telemental health (TMH) resources, separate from or...

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Autores principales: Toscos, Tammy, Coupe, Amanda, Flanagan, Mindy, Drouin, Michelle, Carpenter, Maria, Reining, Lauren, Roebuck, Amelia, Mirro, Michael J
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: JMIR Publications 2019
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6611146/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/31228179
http://dx.doi.org/10.2196/13230
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author Toscos, Tammy
Coupe, Amanda
Flanagan, Mindy
Drouin, Michelle
Carpenter, Maria
Reining, Lauren
Roebuck, Amelia
Mirro, Michael J
author_facet Toscos, Tammy
Coupe, Amanda
Flanagan, Mindy
Drouin, Michelle
Carpenter, Maria
Reining, Lauren
Roebuck, Amelia
Mirro, Michael J
author_sort Toscos, Tammy
collection PubMed
description BACKGROUND: High rates of mental illness, stress, and suicidality among teens constitute a major public health concern in the United States. However, treatment rates remain low, partially because of barriers that could be mitigated with tech-based telemental health (TMH) resources, separate from or in addition to traditional care. OBJECTIVE: This study aimed to analyze TMH resource usage by high school students to establish current user characteristics and provide a framework for future development. METHODS: A total of 2789 students were surveyed regarding demographics, recent anxiety and depression symptoms, suicidality, and stress; people with whom they could openly and honestly discuss stress or problems, and prior TMH use. Logistic regression models and a general linear model were used to test relationships between variables. RESULTS: Overall, 30.58% (853/2789) and 22.91% (639/2789) of students reported moderate to severe anxiety and depression symptoms, respectively, in the past 2 weeks; 16.24% (414/2550) had seriously considered suicide in the past year, consistent with national averages. Meanwhile, 16.03% (447/2789) of students had previously used at least 1 of 4 types of TMH resources (ie, self-help, anonymous chat, online counselor, or crisis text line). Teens reporting depression symptoms, higher stress, or suicidality were less likely to talk to a parent about stress or problems and more likely to tell no one. Suicidality was related to the use of all 4 types of TMH resources. Depression symptoms were related to the use of anonymous chat and crisis text line, and those with higher stress were more likely to have used an online counselor. Those reporting anxiety symptoms were less likely to have no one to talk to and more likely to have used a self-help resource. CONCLUSIONS: Youth struggling with mental health symptoms, some of whom lack real-life confidants, are using existing TMH support, with resource preferences related to symptoms. Future research should consider these preferences and assist in the creation of specialized, evidence-based TMH resources.
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spelling pubmed-66111462019-07-26 Teens Using Screens for Help: Impact of Suicidal Ideation, Anxiety, and Depression Levels on Youth Preferences for Telemental Health Resources Toscos, Tammy Coupe, Amanda Flanagan, Mindy Drouin, Michelle Carpenter, Maria Reining, Lauren Roebuck, Amelia Mirro, Michael J JMIR Ment Health Original Paper BACKGROUND: High rates of mental illness, stress, and suicidality among teens constitute a major public health concern in the United States. However, treatment rates remain low, partially because of barriers that could be mitigated with tech-based telemental health (TMH) resources, separate from or in addition to traditional care. OBJECTIVE: This study aimed to analyze TMH resource usage by high school students to establish current user characteristics and provide a framework for future development. METHODS: A total of 2789 students were surveyed regarding demographics, recent anxiety and depression symptoms, suicidality, and stress; people with whom they could openly and honestly discuss stress or problems, and prior TMH use. Logistic regression models and a general linear model were used to test relationships between variables. RESULTS: Overall, 30.58% (853/2789) and 22.91% (639/2789) of students reported moderate to severe anxiety and depression symptoms, respectively, in the past 2 weeks; 16.24% (414/2550) had seriously considered suicide in the past year, consistent with national averages. Meanwhile, 16.03% (447/2789) of students had previously used at least 1 of 4 types of TMH resources (ie, self-help, anonymous chat, online counselor, or crisis text line). Teens reporting depression symptoms, higher stress, or suicidality were less likely to talk to a parent about stress or problems and more likely to tell no one. Suicidality was related to the use of all 4 types of TMH resources. Depression symptoms were related to the use of anonymous chat and crisis text line, and those with higher stress were more likely to have used an online counselor. Those reporting anxiety symptoms were less likely to have no one to talk to and more likely to have used a self-help resource. CONCLUSIONS: Youth struggling with mental health symptoms, some of whom lack real-life confidants, are using existing TMH support, with resource preferences related to symptoms. Future research should consider these preferences and assist in the creation of specialized, evidence-based TMH resources. JMIR Publications 2019-06-21 /pmc/articles/PMC6611146/ /pubmed/31228179 http://dx.doi.org/10.2196/13230 Text en ©Tammy Toscos, Amanda Coupe, Mindy Flanagan, Michelle Drouin, Maria Carpenter, Lauren Reining, Amelia Roebuck, Michael J Mirro. Originally published in JMIR Mental Health (http://mental.jmir.org), 21.06.2019. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work, first published in JMIR Mental Health, is properly cited. The complete bibliographic information, a link to the original publication on http://mental.jmir.org/, as well as this copyright and license information must be included.
spellingShingle Original Paper
Toscos, Tammy
Coupe, Amanda
Flanagan, Mindy
Drouin, Michelle
Carpenter, Maria
Reining, Lauren
Roebuck, Amelia
Mirro, Michael J
Teens Using Screens for Help: Impact of Suicidal Ideation, Anxiety, and Depression Levels on Youth Preferences for Telemental Health Resources
title Teens Using Screens for Help: Impact of Suicidal Ideation, Anxiety, and Depression Levels on Youth Preferences for Telemental Health Resources
title_full Teens Using Screens for Help: Impact of Suicidal Ideation, Anxiety, and Depression Levels on Youth Preferences for Telemental Health Resources
title_fullStr Teens Using Screens for Help: Impact of Suicidal Ideation, Anxiety, and Depression Levels on Youth Preferences for Telemental Health Resources
title_full_unstemmed Teens Using Screens for Help: Impact of Suicidal Ideation, Anxiety, and Depression Levels on Youth Preferences for Telemental Health Resources
title_short Teens Using Screens for Help: Impact of Suicidal Ideation, Anxiety, and Depression Levels on Youth Preferences for Telemental Health Resources
title_sort teens using screens for help: impact of suicidal ideation, anxiety, and depression levels on youth preferences for telemental health resources
topic Original Paper
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6611146/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/31228179
http://dx.doi.org/10.2196/13230
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