Evaluation of an online youth ambassador program to promote mental health

Beamish, N., Cannan, P., Fujiyama, H.ORCID: 0000-0002-7546-6636, Matthews, A., Spiranovic, C., Briggs, K. and Kirkby, K. (2011) Evaluation of an online youth ambassador program to promote mental health. Youth Studies Australia, 30 (2). pp. 41-47.

Abstract

To evaluate an online Youth Ambassador (YA) program designed to promote internet resources for mental health in an adolescent population, 56 YAs and 357 of their Year 10 peers from 11 Tasmanian schools completed e-mental health questionnaires before and after the YAs attended a single workshop session. The workshops, which were delivered in the high school setting, were either facilitated or self-directed. Self-reported awareness of e-mental health resources increased among both YAs and their peers. The peer group also showed increased frequency of recommending help-seeking to others. There were no differences in outcomes for facilitated or self-directed workshop formats. The results suggest that an online YA program delivered in school is useful in improving mental health awareness for workshop participants. While their Year 10 peer groups also showed increased awareness, this could not necessarily be attributed to the participation of all 11 schools in the YA program.

Item Type:	Journal Article
Publisher:	Australian Clearinghouse for Youth Studies
Publisher's Website:	http://acys.info/
URI:	http://researchrepository.murdoch.edu.au/id/eprint/30381

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