Evidence map›Paper›PMID 24594922›Full record

SynthesisJournal of medical Internet research2014

Do online mental health services improve help-seeking for young people? A systematic review.

Sylvia Deidre Kauer, Cheryl Mangan, Lena Sanci

Abstract readSystematic Review
PubMed Full text at PMC Publisher
In one paragraph

Synthesis in Journal of medical Internet research, 2014. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 126 papers, 7 of them syntheses that pooled it.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
126citing papers in PubMed, 7 pooled it
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

126 citing papers in PubMed, 7 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.

  1. Pooled it
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  8. Feasibility Study of a Novel App-Based Anxiety Intervention for Autistic People.Autism research : official journal of the International Society for Autism Research · 2026
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  13. Article
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  17. What Youth Write About and Seek in an Anonymized Online Peer Support Forum: Insights from India.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2026
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  19. Article
  20. Article

66 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.

4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

3 authors.

Sylvia Deidre KauerDepartment of General Practice, University of Melbourne, Carlton, Australia. sylvia.kauer@unimelb.edu.au.ORCID 0000-0001-9797-9822
Cheryl Mangan
Lena Sanci

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

backgroundYoung people regularly use online services to seek help and look for information about mental health problems. Yet little is known about the effects that online services have on mental health and whether these services facilitate help-seeking in young people.

objectiveThis systematic review investigates the effectiveness of online services in facilitating mental health help-seeking in young people.

methodsUsing the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) guidelines, literature searches were conducted in PubMed, PsycINFO, and the Cochrane library. Out of 608 publications identified, 18 studies fulfilled the inclusion criteria of investigating online mental health services and help-seeking in young people aged 14-25 years.

resultsTwo qualitative, 12 cross-sectional, one quasi-experimental, and three randomized controlled trials (RCTs) were reviewed. There was no change in help-seeking behavior found in the RCTs, while the quasi-experimental study found a slight but significant increase in help-seeking. The cross-sectional studies reported that online services facilitated seeking help from a professional source for an average of 35% of users. The majority of the studies included small sample sizes and a high proportion of young women. Help-seeking was often a secondary outcome, with only 22% (4/18) of studies using adequate measures of help-seeking. The majority of studies identified in this review were of low quality and likely to be biased. Across all studies, young people regularly used and were generally satisfied with online mental health resources. Facilitators and barriers to help-seeking were also identified.

conclusionsFew studies examine the effects of online services on mental health help-seeking. Further research is needed to determine whether online mental health services effectively facilitate help-seeking for young people.

Indexed as

Information Seeking BehaviorInternetPatient Acceptance of Health CareAdolescentAdultFemaleHumansMaleMental Health ServicesOnline SystemsSex FactorsYoung Adultadolescentinformation seeking behaviorInternetmedical informaticsmental disordersmental healthsystematic reviewyoung adult

Identifiers

PMID24594922
PMCPMC3961801

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
LicenceCC BY
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Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.