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Who seeks help online? Comparing online and offline help-seeking preferences amongst youths with suicidal ideation
•Amongst youths with suicidal ideation, those who have ever sought help online differ from those who have only sought help offline, or never sought help before in several key ways.•Online help-seekers have poorer mental health, higher suicidality, and spend more time online for non-work-related purp...
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| Published in: | Journal of affective disorders 2021-09, Vol.292, p.21-29 |
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| Main Authors: | , , , , , , |
| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Subjects: | |
| Citations: | Items that this one cites Items that cite this one |
| Online Access: | Get full text |
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| Summary: | •Amongst youths with suicidal ideation, those who have ever sought help online differ from those who have only sought help offline, or never sought help before in several key ways.•Online help-seekers have poorer mental health, higher suicidality, and spend more time online for non-work-related purposes. Their perceived benefits of online support include anonymity, avoiding embarrassment, and social support. They are more likely to seek help from a combination of informal and formal sources.•Having poorer mental health and perceiving benefits in online support predicted whether youths with suicidal ideation have ever sought help online, or have sought help offline only.•Online platforms offer an alternate pathway to provide support to at-risk youths; they complement, rather than replace, traditional, offline support platforms.•Given their increasing relevance, better regulation of e-mental health services is recommended.
: Research consistently report an inverse relationship between suicide risk and help-seeking. The increasingly available internet-based support potentially offers an attractive alternative to traditional forms of assistance. The study compared the characteristics of suicidal youths in Hong Kong and their online and offline help-seeking behaviours.
: Participants (N = 1214, age-range = 15–24 years) responded to the anonymous 2018 Hong Kong Online Survey on Youth Mental Health and Internet Usage. Respondents with suicidal thoughts were classified into those who sought help online and offline, or online only (“online-help”); those who sought help offline only (“offline-help”); and those who never sought help (“no-help”). They responded to questions concerning mental health, perception towards online support, internet use, help sources, and demographic information.
: The online-help group differed significantly from other groups, with greater suicidal ideation, distress, risk behaviours, and spent more time online for non-work-related purposes. Their perceived benefits of online support include anonymity, avoiding embarrassment, and social support. They are more likely to seek help from a combination of informal and formal sources.
: No data on whether participants sought help online or offline first, and their current treatment status is available. Our study adopted conveniences sampling, and few respondents have sought help online exclusively.
: Online support offers an alternate way of engaging at-risk youths. Future clinical practice shoul |
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| ISSN: | 0165-0327 1573-2517 |
| DOI: | 10.1016/j.jad.2021.05.056 |