Young People’s Barriers and Facilitators of Engagement With Web-Based Mental Health Interventions for Anxiety and Depression: A Qualitative Study

OBJECTIVES: Anxiety and depression in young people are increasing worldwide. Web-based mental health interventions (W-MHIs) have the potential to reduce anxiety and depression symptoms for young people. Engagement with W-MHIs beyond the research context has remained low compared to that in research studies. Limited studies examine factors influencing engagement with W-MHIs in the post-COVID-19 pandemic years. This study aims to explore barriers and facilitators of engagement with W-MHIs for anxiety and depression among young people.

METHODS: Twenty semi-structured interviews and focus groups were conducted online between February and March 2023 using Zoom. Participants were young people aged 18-25 years, experienced anxiety and/or depression in the past six months and lived in Australia. Inductive thematic analysis was performed to understand the key barriers and facilitators of young people’s engagement with W-MHIs.

RESULTS: Both individual- and intervention-related factors influenced young people’s engagement with W-MHIs. Facilitators of engagement with W-MHIs included personal trust and beliefs in web-based programs, ability to contact a health professional, program suitability (e.g., affordability, content aligning with user needs), program usability (e.g., user interface), and accessibility of the online platform. Barriers to engagement with W-MHIs included concerns about online security, lack of human interaction and immediate responses from health professionals (if any), and negative experience with mental health programs. Participants expressed greater willingness to pay if they could contact health professionals during the W-MHI.

CONCLUSIONS: Better promotion strategies for mental health and W-MHI awareness are needed to increase the perceived importance and priority of mental health interventions among young people. Future W-MHI development should involve young people in the codesign to enhance the program suitability and usability to foster their engagement with W-MHIs.