Assessing the usability and user engagement of Thought Spot - A digital mental health help-seeking solution for transition-aged youth.

Objective: To evaluate the perceived usability of and user engagement with a digital platform (Thought Spot) designed to enhance mental health and wellness help-seeking among transition-aged youth (TAY; 17-29-years old).

Materials And Methods: Survey responses and usage patterns were collected as part of a randomized controlled trial evaluating the efficacy of Thought Spot. Participants given Thought Spot completed an adapted Usefulness, Satisfaction, and Ease of Use (USE) Questionnaire to measure perceived usability of the platform.

Postsecondary Student Engagement With a Mental Health App and Online Platform (Thought Spot): Qualitative Study of User Experience.

Background: There is growing interest in using mobile apps and online tools to support postsecondary student mental health, but most of these solutions have suboptimal user engagement in real-world settings. Poor engagement can limit long-term effectiveness and usefulness of these tools. Previous literature has proposed several theories that link factors such as low usability and poor user-centered design to app disengagement.

Effects of a Mobile and Web App (Thought Spot) on Mental Health Help-Seeking Among College and University Students: Randomized Controlled Trial.

Background: Mental health disorders are the most prevalent health issues among postsecondary students, yet few solutions to this emerging crisis exist. While mobile health technologies are touted as promising solutions for the unmet mental health needs of these students, the efficacy of these tools remains unclear. In response to these gaps, this study evaluates Thought Spot, a mobile and web app created through participatory design research.

Help-Seeking Behaviors of Transition-Aged Youth for Mental Health Concerns: Qualitative Study.

Background: Transition-aged youth are particularly vulnerable to mental health problems, yet they are one of the least likely demographic groups to seek help.

Objective: The aim of this study is to explore the influences on and patterns in help-seeking for mental health concerns among transition-aged youth who attend postsecondary schools in Canada.

Methods: A qualitative research design was used, involving 12 semistructured focus groups with transition-aged youth (17-29 years) who attended postsecondary schools in Canada.

Enhancing researcher capacity to engage youth in research: Researchers' engagement experiences, barriers and capacity development priorities.

Background: There is increasing emphasis on engaging youth in research about youth, their needs, experiences and preferences, notably in health services research. By engaging youth as full partners, research becomes more feasible and relevant, and the validity and richness of findings are enhanced. Consequently, researchers need guidance in engaging youth effectively.

Key attributes of integrated community-based youth service hubs for mental health: a scoping review.

Background: Community-based, integrated youth service hubs have the potential to address some of the longstanding issues with mental health services for youth, including problems with access and system fragmentation. Better understanding of these approaches, particularly efforts to create a single point of entry to comprehensive, evidence-based services through youth service hubs, is needed to help guide future implementation and evaluation. This scoping review identifies the key principles and characteristics of these models of care, as well as the state of the literature, particularly with regard to implementation and replicability.

What makes mental health and substance use services youth friendly? A scoping review of literature.

Background: There are increasing calls to make mental health and substance use services youth friendly, with hopes of improving service uptake, engagement and satisfaction. However, youth-friendliness in this area has not been clearly defined and there is a lack of information about the characteristics that make such services youth friendly. The purpose of this scoping review was to examine the literature available on youth-friendly mental health and substance use services in order to identify the characteristics, outline the expected impacts, and establish a definition.

Cross-sectoral integration in youth-focused health and social services in Canada: a social network analysis.

Background: Youth with concurrent substance use and mental health concerns have diverse psychosocial needs and may present to a multitude of clinical and social service sectors. By integrating service sectors at a system level, the diversity of needs of youth with concurrent disorders can be addressed in a more holistic way. The objective of the present study was to quantify the level of cross-sectoral integration in youth-focused services in Canada.

The service-seeking profiles of youth reporting a legal mandate or perceived coercion for substance use treatment.

Introduction: There is paucity of research on treatment-related coercion in youth: most research focuses on adult populations and legally mandated treatment. This study aims to examine the service-seeking profiles of youth with substance misuse issues who report a legal mandate or perceived coercion to enter treatment.

Methods: Differences between youth who were legally mandated and not legally mandated, and differences between youth reporting high and low perceived coercion, were examined for demographic characteristics, mental health and substance use profiles, motivation, and readiness to change.

Early Adolescent Substance Use and Mental Health Problems and Service Utilisation in a School-based Sample.

Objective: This paper reports on substance use, mental health problems, and mental health service utilisation in an early adolescent school-based sample.

Method: Participants were 1,360 grade 7 and 8 students from 4 regions of Ontario, Canada. Students completed an in-class survey on mental health and substance use.

The Optimization of an eHealth Solution (Thought Spot) with Transition-Aged Youth in Postsecondary Settings: Participatory Design Research.

Background: Seventy percent of lifetime cases of mental illness emerge before the age of 24 years, but many youth are unable to access the support and services they require in a timely and appropriate way. With most youth using the internet, electronic health (eHealth) interventions are promising tools for reaching this population. Through participatory design research (PDR) engagement methods, Thought Spot, a Web- and mobile-based platform, was redeveloped to facilitate access to mental health services by transition-aged youth (aged 16-29 years) in postsecondary settings.

Housing Instability and Concurrent Substance use and Mental Health Concerns: An Examination of Canadian Youth.

Objective: Though previous research has identified the high burden of mental health and addiction (MHA) concerns among precariously housed youth, earlier studies have not examined differences in MHA concerns among housing insecure Canadian youth across sectors. This study examines this issue using the Global Appraisal of Individual Needs Short Screener (GAIN-SS) in a cross-sectoral sample of Canadian youth.

Method: A total of 2605 youth ages 12 to 24 seeking services across sectors completed the GAIN-SS and a sociodemographic form.

Collaborating with community-based services to promote evidence-based practice: Process description of a national initiative to improve services for youth with mental health and substance use problems.

Many youth with significant mental health (MH) and/or substance use (SU) difficulties do not receive specialized services. Collaboration between service providers, researchers, and other stakeholders is essential to improve youth service system capacity to provide evidence-based services to meet the complex array of needs of youth. Facilitators and barriers of implementing evidence-based practice have been identified, but few studies provide examples of the processes of collaboration and implementation for youth MH services.

Enhancing prevention and intervention for youth concurrent mental health and substance use disorders: The Research and Action for Teens study.

Background: Concurrent mental health and substance use disorders among youth are associated with functional impairment in developmentally salient domains, yet research on prevention and intervention for this vulnerable population is sparse. This paper describes the rationale and design of the Research and Action for Teens study, an initiative designed to strengthen the evidence base for prevention, screening, treatment and service delivery for youth concurrent mental health and substance use concerns.

Methods: Four sub-studies were developed: (1) a cohort study examining the emergence of mental health and substance use concerns from early to mid-adolescence; (2) a screening and diagnosis study validating screening tools with a diagnostic interview; (3) a treatment study examining the feasibility and effectiveness of dialectical behaviour therapy skills training interventions for youth and family members; and (4) a systems study implementing cross-sectoral collaborative networks of youth-serving agencies using a common screening tool.

Implementation of a youth-adult partnership model in youth mental health systems research: Challenges and successes.

Background: By integrating Youth-Adult Partnerships (Y-APs) in organizational decision making and programming in health-care settings, youth can be engaged in decisions that affect them in a way that draws on their unique skills and expertise. Despite challenges, Y-APs can have many benefits for youth and adults alike, as well as for the programmes and initiatives that they undertake together.

Objective: This article describes the development, implementation and success of a Y-AP initiative at the McCain Centre at the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health, a large urban hospital.

Screening for substance use and mental health problems in a cross-sectoral sample of Canadian youth.

Background: This project examines the substance use and mental health concerns of a cross-sectoral, national, service-seeking sample of adolescents and emerging adults using an extended version of the Global Appraisal of Individual Needs-Short Screener (GSS). It also aims to provide incremental evidence of the psychometric properties of the GSS.

Methods: A sample of 2313 youth aged 12-24 years who presented for service participated in the project.

Integrated collaborative care teams to enhance service delivery to youth with mental health and substance use challenges: protocol for a pragmatic randomised controlled trial.

Introduction: Among youth, the prevalence of mental health and addiction (MHA) disorders is roughly 20%, yet youth are challenged to access evidence-based services in a timely fashion. To address MHA system gaps, this study tests the benefits of an Integrated Collaborative Care Team (ICCT) model for youth with MHA challenges. A rapid, stepped-care approach geared to need in a youth-friendly environment is expected to result in better youth MHA outcomes.

Enhancing Self-Efficacy for Help-Seeking Among Transition-Aged Youth in Postsecondary Settings With Mental Health and/or Substance Use Concerns, Using Crowd-Sourced Online and Mobile Technologies: The Thought Spot Protocol.

Background: Seventy percent of lifetime cases of mental illness emerge prior to age 24. While early detection and intervention can address approximately 70% of child and youth cases of mental health concerns, the majority of youth with mental health concerns do not receive the services they need.

Objective: The objective of this paper is to describe the protocol for optimizing and evaluating Thought Spot, a Web- and mobile-based platform cocreated with end users that is designed to improve the ability of students to access mental health and substance use services.

Program manager perspectives on the service system to meet the needs of youth with concurrent disorders: findings from a Canadian national survey.

Background: Concurrent mental health and substance use issues are a serious problem for adolescents and transition-aged youth. Service providers across sectors must be involved in informing system change to meet youth needs. This study examines stakeholder perspectives on services for youth with concurrent disorders including 1) clinical issues in youth services; 2) priority system issues; and 3) optimal knowledge translation strategies to enhance researcher-stakeholder communication.

Integrated Knowledge Translation and Grant Development: Addressing the Research Practice Gap through Stakeholder-informed Research.

Objective: We describe our stakeholder engagement process for grant application development that occurred as part of our integrated knowledge translation plan and make recommendations for researchers.

Method: In phase 1, a stakeholder consultation group was developed. In phase 2, surveys regarding knowledge gathering, research agenda, and research collaboration preferences were sent to 333 cross-sectoral youth-serving organizations in Ontario, including family and consumer organizations.

Client characteristics within the Chilean National Youth Addiction Treatment Demonstration System.

In the context of an evaluation of a national demonstration program for youth addiction treatment in Chile, a sociodemographic and substance use profile of children and adolescents accessing services through this new program was developed. Information regarding sociodemographic factors, substance use, and problem severity; services used; and unmet needs was retrospectively gathered for all clients (685) admitted between January 1 and June 30, 2006. Thirty-two treatment centers (91.