Online anti-stigma interventions for mental health help-seeking in young people: A systematic review

Background: Young people (14–25 years) have the lowest tendency to seek mental health services, despite being the population with the highest prevalence of mental illness. Past help-seeking literature frequently identifies stigma as a key barrier to accessing services within this age group. As young people use the internet as their predominant source for health information, this systematic review aimed to examine the effectiveness of online anti-stigma interventions on reducing young people’s self-stigma and perceived public stigma towards mental health help-seeking.

Method: A search was conducted on four electronic databases, PsycINFO, PsycARTICLES, CINAHL, and PubMed in February 2023. Eligible studies contained: (i) participants between the ages of 14 and 25 years; (ii) were conducted online and utilised anti-stigma (self-stigma and/or public) intervention methods for mental health help-seeking; (iii) assessed changes in help-seeking attitudes, intentions, or behaviours for common mental health problems of depression, anxiety, emotional distress, self-harm, or suicidal thoughts. Six studies were eligible for this review.

Results: Online anti-stigma interventions were mostly successful in reducing public stigma, and to a lesser degree self-stigma, and in improving young people’s help-seeking intentions with some evidence also suggesting positive trends regarding increases in help-seeking behaviour and improved attitudes.

Limitations: Due to limited eligible studies and the heterogeneity of the research, generalisations should be made with caution.

Conclusions: This review demonstrates the need for higher quality evaluations that utilise health behaviour models and can effectively assess the interplay between relevant variables and allow for the assessment of longterm intervention effects.