WhatWorks4u.org: Helping to improve mental health treatment for young people

Researcher

Professor Anthony Jorm
ajorm@unimelb.edu.au

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+61 3 9035 7799

Project Details

WhatWorks4U.org aims to improve treatment for young people with mental health problems by gathering information about what works in the real world.

PROJECT SUMMARY

Despite youth being the most common age group (between the ages of 12 and 25 years) for onset of mental disorders, there is a lack of knowledge regarding the efficacy of psychotherapies and pharmacological treatments for young people experiencing a mental disorder. This study aims to help fill these ‘knowledge gaps’ and investigate how helpful young people find the treatments they have undergone for a diagnosed mental disorder.

This study involves the WhatWorks4U.org website, where young people can report anonymously what mental health treatments they found to be effective or ineffective and their side effects, which types of professionals they found to be useful, and what self-help strategies they found to be helpful.

The overall helpfulness ratings are compiled and reported on the website, allowing self-report effectiveness ratings to be shared.

Knowing what treatments young people report are effective for them (and the side effects involved) will be a useful guide to clinicians, researchers and other consumers about what is likely to work. Furthermore, this study contributes knowledge on whether actual treatment effectiveness differs from the findings in research settings.