Can we connect with young adults? A qualitative exploration into young adults' mental health help-seeking, and perceptions of digital Single Session Interventions

Objectives: Mental health difficulties are rising amongst young adults in the UK, and access to mental health services is limited. Digital Single Session Interventions (SSIs) offer free, scalable mental health support, and may help to meet this treatment gap. To inform adaptation and implementation of SSIs, we sought to understand where young adults look for mental health support and how they perceive a behavioural activation-based SSI (The A.B.C. Project) and its hosting platform.
Design: A qualitative study using semi-structured interviews.

Methods: Interviews were conducted with N=22 young adults (aged 19-25) in the UK to explore: 1) where they look for mental health support, and 2) what they think of The A.B.C. Project and a website developed for adolescents to access it from. Data were analysed using the Framework Method.

Results: Four themes were generated: 1) Where to turn when seeking help and support; 2) ‘I think people just go off vibes really’: Establishing trust with SSIs; 3) Will this work? Ambivalence towards SSIs; 4) Is this for me? Considerations for engagement with SSIs. Young adults valued both online and in-person support, so long as it was deemed trustworthy; social media content in particular was viewed as untrustworthy. Young adults expressed both hope for and scepticism towards SSIs, and highlighted considerations for how to improve trust and engagement, such as visually appealing, evidence-based, confidential, and personally meaningful content.

Conclusion: Findings underscore the importance of co-developed, person-centred SSI design, and partnering with trusted providers for in-person and online dissemination to maximise reach.