Young People's Trust in Cocreated Web-Based Resources to Promote Mental Health Literacy: Focus Group Study

Sachiyo Ito-Jaeger; Elvira Perez Vallejos; Saruka Logathasan; Thomas Curran; Paul Crawford

doi:10.2196/38346

Young People's Trust in Cocreated Web-Based Resources to Promote Mental Health Literacy: Focus Group Study

JMIR Ment Health. 2023 Jan 9:10:e38346. doi: 10.2196/38346.

Authors

Sachiyo Ito-Jaeger^{1

2}, Elvira Perez Vallejos^{1

2}, Saruka Logathasan¹, Thomas Curran³, Paul Crawford¹

Affiliations

¹ Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, University of Nottingham, Nottingham, United Kingdom.
² National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR), Nottingham Biomedical Research Centre, Nottingham, United Kingdom.
³ Department of Psychological and Behavioural Science, London School of Economics, London, United Kingdom.

PMID: 36622752
PMCID: PMC9871878
DOI: 10.2196/38346

Abstract

Background: There is a pressing need to create resources to promote mental health literacy among young people. Digital media is one of the methods that can be used to successfully promote mental health literacy. Although digital mental health resources are generally favorably perceived by young people, one of the essential factors in whether they choose to use these interventions is trust.

Objective: The objective of this study was to explore young people's trust-related concerns about and recommendations for the cocreated mental health website "What's Up With Everyone" by using TrustScapes. Our aim was to use the findings to improve the trustworthiness of the website and to inform future creators of web-based mental health resources.

Methods: In total, 30 young people (mean age 19, SD 1.509; range 17-21 years) participated in TrustScapes focus groups. Thematic analysis was carried out to analyze both the TrustScapes worksheets and audio transcripts.

Results: Qualitative analysis revealed that the mental health website contains elements perceived to be both trustworthy and untrustworthy by young people. The relatable and high-quality design, which was achieved by cocreating the website with a team of design professionals and young people, was considered to increase trust. Creators' credibility also positively affected trust, but the logos and other information about the creators were recommended to be more salient for users. Suggestions were made to update the privacy policy and cookie settings and include communication functions on the platform to improve the trustworthiness of the website.

Conclusions: Factors perceived to be trustworthy included the website's relatable, high-quality design and creators' credibility, whereas those perceived to be untrustworthy included the privacy policy and cookie settings. The findings highlighted the significance of collaborating with end users and industrial partners and the importance of making the trust-enabling factors salient for users. We hope that these findings will inform future creators of web-based mental health resources to make these resources as trustworthy and effective as possible.

Keywords: cocreation; digital health; digital mental health; internet; mental health; mental health literacy; mobile phone; qualitative study; thematic analysis; trust; trustworthy; web; young people.

©Sachiyo Ito-Jaeger, Elvira Perez Vallejos, Saruka Logathasan, Thomas Curran, Paul Crawford. Originally published in JMIR Mental Health (https://mental.jmir.org), 09.01.2023.