Discussing online activity and mental health with young people in primary care consultations: Development of co-produced guidance.

PI Title: Charlotte Archer

Lead member: Bristol

Background
Young people – aged 16-24 – are the age group with the highest use of technology. This includes online health appointments, gaming, and social media. Some online activities can be helpful for mental health. However, there can also be negative effects. For example, disordered eating, self-harm behaviours and sleep quality.

The number of young people diagnosed with anxiety and depression has increased recently. Most of these people will not be referred to mental health teams. Seeing a GP or psychological therapist provides an opportunity to talk about online activity and its impact on mental health with young people. These conversations may help by increasing young peoples’ awareness of where their online behaviour may be causing harm. They could also suggest ways of using technology that might be helpful. However, there is very little research on how these conversations could be happening in primary care.

Many GPs and therapists think online activity plays a role in young people’s mental health. Despite this, survey data suggests they lack confidence or training in talking about the online world with young people. The research team (LB, MJL) have co-created (with practitioners and young people) good practice indicators for talking with young people about their online activity and mental health during secondary care appointments. We need to explore how practitioners (GPs, nurses, wellbeing coaches and therapists) and young people think the guidance could be adapted for primary care and what training they would need.

Aim
To work with key stakeholders to co-develop bespoke refined guidance for discussing the impact of online activity on mental health with young people in primary care and identify practitioner training needs.

Methods
A series of co-production workshops will be held with key stakeholders (young people, parents/guardians, primary care therapists, GPs, wellbeing coaches and nurses) to co-develop guidance for use in primary care.

Why this study is important
This study will generate co-produced guidance and an outline for a training package. This will help practitioners to discuss online activity with young people with mental health concerns. Findings will inform future research to evaluate the guidance and training for practitioners on how these conversations are best delivered to improve the primary mental health care of young people. Findings will be shared through journals, conferences, a dedicated webpage and social media.

Patient and Public Involvement & Engagement (PPIE)
The research team includes a PPIE group. They helped to shape this proposal and will help design the workshop plans. They will also be part of the co-production workshops. They will inform the direction of future research and how we share the research findings.

Amount awarded: £39,980