ArticlePsychology and psychotherapy2025
What do they look for and what do they find? A coproduced qualitative study on young people's experiences of searching for mental health information online.
Article in Psychology and psychotherapy, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 10 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
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Who cites it
10 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.
- How have contemporary research studies used social media to recruit to digital self-help intervention research for young people's mental health?: a mapping review.BMC medical research methodology · 2025Pooled it
- Current directions in child and adolescent psychotherapy: Overview and introduction to the Special Issue.Psychology and psychotherapy · 2026Article
- Debate: Standing up for science - how to combat misinformation in child mental health? Five recommendations for disentangling fact from fiction.Child and adolescent mental health · 2026Article
- Joint Adaptation of a Digital Mental Health Intervention for University Students: Inductive Qualitative Analysis.Journal of participatory medicine · 2026Article
- Investigating Project Care UK, a Web-Based Self-Help Single-Session Intervention for Youth Mental Health: Program Evaluation.JMIR mental health · 2025Article
- What do they look for and what do they find? A coproduced qualitative study on young people's experiences of searching for mental health information online.Psychology and psychotherapy · 2025Article
- Young people's attitudes towards online self-help single-session interventions: findings from a co-produced qualitative study.BMC psychology · 2025Article
- The Need to Increase Help-Seeking for Eating Disorders in General and Binge-Eating Disorder Specifically: Commentary on Ali et al.'s (2024) Meta-Analysis.The International journal of eating disorders · 2025Article
- Improving adolescents' knowledge about mental health and depression: a randomized experimental study of web-based information.Frontiers in digital health · 2025Article
- Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
13 authors.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundMany young people (YP) struggle with their mental health and look online for help. To capitalise on their digital presence, we need to better understand how and where they seek information online and what they think of what they find.
methodWe recruited 24 YP (aged 13-18 years). Online interviews were co-conducted by research team members and trained young researchers. We presented a persona with depression symptoms and asked about potential sources of information/support they might seek. They were also asked to think aloud while searching online and reviewing mental health resources (NHS, Young Minds). We used reflexive thematic analysis.
resultsAnalysis generated four themes: (1) the online help-seeking process, showcasing where YP look for information and why; (2) the mismatch between the information YP expected to find and the reality; (3) the strategies YP employed to determine a source's trust and credibility and (4) individual differences that can influence help-seeking.
conclusionParticipants initiated their online search by Googling symptoms. They trusted NHS websites for basic medical information, while charities provided detailed content. Despite scepticism about content, social media offered validation. Online resources should prioritise visual appeal, user-friendliness, age-appropriate and personalised content and peer insights. Codesign is imperative to ensure high-quality, impactful research.
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Registered trials
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.