Exploring the Effect of Brief Preventive Videos on Mental Health Help-Seeking for Early Psychosis in a Young Community Sample.

Introduction: A key factor influencing the duration of untreated psychosis is that young individuals typically do not seek help during their initial psychotic experiences. This online study aimed to explore the efficacy of preventive video interventions providing information on psychosis on the attitudes towards seeking mental health care among young adults from the general population.

Methods: Participants (N = 147) were randomised to one of the following online conditions: a short 3-min video of an empowered patient or of a psychiatrist describing different aspects of mental illness, a short control video or no video. Then, participants answered the Inventory of Attitudes to Seeking Mental Health Services (IARSSM) to measure attitudes towards seeking mental health.

Results: A Kruskal-Wallis one-way ANOVA on the total IARSSM score revealed no significant effect of the group on attitude towards mental health care (χ2 = 6.52, p = 0.09). A small but statistically significant effect was found for the IARSSM factor "indifference to stigma" (χ2 = 8.50, p = 0.04), with slightly lower levels of indifference to stigma in the patient video group (M = 20.5, SD = 6.50) compared to the psychiatry video group (M = 24.5, SD = 4.35).

Conclusion: Emphasising nonconformity with mental health stereotypes, portraying positive aspects and utilising short video formats on social media platforms can potentially reduce stigma in the short term. Long-term effectiveness and identification of specific factors optimising attitudes towards mental health help-seeking warrant further investigation.