Dataset Information

Development and evaluation of a youth mental health community awareness campaign - The Compass Strategy.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Early detection and treatment of mental disorders in adolescents and young adults can lead to better health outcomes. Mental health literacy is a key to early recognition and help seeking. Whilst a number of population health initiatives have attempted to improve mental health literacy, none to date have specifically targeted young people nor have they applied the rigorous standards of population health models now accepted as best practice in other health areas. This paper describes the outcomes from the application of a health promotion model to the development, implementation and evaluation of a community awareness campaign designed to improve mental health literacy and early help seeking amongst young people.

Method

The Compass Strategy was implemented in the western metropolitan Melbourne and Barwon regions of Victoria, Australia. The Precede-Proceed Model guided the population assessment, campaign strategy development and evaluation. The campaign included the use of multimedia, a website, and an information telephone service. Multiple levels of evaluation were conducted. This included a cross-sectional telephone survey of mental health literacy undertaken before and after 14 months of the campaign using a quasi-experimental design. Randomly selected independent samples of 600 young people aged 12-25 years from the experimental region and another 600 from a comparison region were interviewed at each time point. A series of binary logistic regression analyses were used to measure the association between a range of campaign outcome variables and the predictor variables of region and time.

Results

The program was judged to have an impact on the following variables, as indicated by significant region-by-time interaction effects (p < 0.05): awareness of mental health campaigns, self-identified depression, help for depression sought in the previous year, correct estimate of prevalence of mental health problems, increased awareness of suicide risk, and a reduction in perceived barriers to help seeking. These effects may be underestimated because media distribution error resulted in a small amount of print material "leaking" into the comparison region.

Conclusion

We believe this is the first study to apply the rigorous standards of a health promotion model including the use of a control region to a mental health population intervention. The program achieved many of its aims despite the relatively short duration and moderate intensity of the campaign.

SUBMITTER: Wright A

PROVIDER: S-EPMC1564138 | biostudies-literature | 2006 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

ACCESS DATA

Publications

Development and evaluation of a youth mental health community awareness campaign - The Compass Strategy.

Wright Annemarie A McGorry Patrick D PD Harris Meredith G MG Jorm Anthony F AF Pennell Kerryn K

BMC public health 20060822

<h4>Background</h4>Early detection and treatment of mental disorders in adolescents and young adults can lead to better health outcomes. Mental health literacy is a key to early recognition and help seeking. Whilst a number of population health initiatives have attempted to improve mental health literacy, none to date have specifically targeted young people nor have they applied the rigorous standards of population health models now accepted as best practice in other health areas. This paper des ...[more]

PMID: 16923195

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Project description:Due to the need to increase social awareness about dementia and the needs of patients living with dementia in Poland, the Razem przed siebie (eng. Forward with Dementia) campaign was created. The aim of the study was to evaluate its effectiveness. To disseminate key campaign messages to the target audiences (people with dementia, carers, health and social care professionals [HSCP] and general public) a website, social and traditional media promotions, webinars and social activities were created. The campaign ran between September 2021 and April 2022. Mixed methods (online survey, reach estimates and interviews) were used to evaluate the campaign. Almost 1,300 people visited the website during the campaign period. Of these, 55 carers and HSCP responded to the online survey. The most read section of the website was Understanding the diagnosis (carers [56% of 25] and HSCP [80% out of 30]). The website was mostly accessed by carers (68%) and HSCP (66.7%) through word-of-mouth recommendations. 80% carers and 90% HSCP found the website very or extremely helpful. Over 90% of carers and HSCP expressed an intention to revisit the website. Based on 31 interviews, campaign effects, change mechanisms and limitations were identified. Campaign events elicited positive emotions among people with dementia, providing them with a feeling of belonging and engagement. Esteeming personal interactions over informational campaign materials, those with dementia felt acknowledged and empowered by the events. Carers also reported positive experiences and increased interest and knowledge, though they expressed disappointment with the lack of respite care, an issue beyond the campaign's scope. HSCP perceived the campaign events positively and identified significant gaps in the dementia care system. Evaluation of the Razem przed siebie campaign revealed successes and limitations. While effectively incorporating anti-stigma campaign recommendations and enhancing social health for individuals with dementia, the campaign clearly showed the pressing need for systemic solutions. Despite positive perception of the campaign, there is a need for a better diagnostic and post-diagnostic support for people with dementia and their carers.

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Dataset Information

Development and evaluation of a youth mental health community awareness campaign - The Compass Strategy.

Background

Method

Results

Conclusion

Publications

Development and evaluation of a youth mental health community awareness campaign - The Compass Strategy.

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