New North-South project aims to identify mental health apps that resonate best with Irish youth

Between the soaring cost of living, difficulties accessing housing and third-level education, as well as the ever-looming threat of climate change, young people today face an overwhelming number of stressors. “The challenge to find your place in a world that’s ever changing is really difficult,” says Ian Power, chief executive of the youth charity SpunOut. According to Power, at least one in four people will experience mental illness during their lifetime, with the majority of cases first presenting between the ages of 15 and 25.

“The idea of the Atlantic Futures project is to collaborate with young people and look at ways that digital could potentially support [them] at scale,” says Power, speaking of a new North-South project. A key strand of the project, funded by the Higher Education Authority through the North South Research Programme (NSRP), focuses on youth mental health, and is being led by professors Gary Donohoe and Margaret Barry from NUI Galway, and professors Maurice Mulvenna and Siobhán O’Neill from Ulster University.

In partnership with national youth organisations, such as SpunOut, and young people themselves, the researchers aim to identify well-evidenced digital mental health interventions, test their impact and implement them in a youth-friendly, accessible way through community service providers.

As the developer of the HSE-funded 50808 text service, Power understands that young people aged 12-25 are digital natives, for whom “going online is as natural as going outside”. With the rise in both young people’s mental distress and their usage of mental health apps since the Covid-19 pandemic, Margaret Barry, professor of health promotion and public health, echoes the importance of “responding to young people’s mental health needs in a different way”.

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Listening to youth

Given the overwhelming number of mental health apps available, the project seeks to identify those that resonate best with Irish youth. Maurice Mulvenna, professor of computer science at Ulster University, stresses the need to involve a representative sample of young people from the North and South in this selection process. “We envisage quite a lot of on-the-ground workshops with young people and perhaps engaging through schools,” he says.

According to Prof Barry, speaking to young people will be crucial for “determining user requirements across different groups”, since the youth demographic is far from homogeneous. Previous research from NUIG’s Health Promotion Research Centre, has found that young people in Youthreach settings tend to favour content with less text, that does not require high concentration or literacy. Prof Barry says that this kind of feedback will reveal “the most appropriate types of interventions”, as well as how best to implement them so that they “really speak to the needs” of young users.

For Siobhán O’Neill, professor of mental health sciences at Ulster University, this marks a departure from the norm. Despite the proliferation of mental health apps, she says that “nobody has actually asked the young people what they want and what would work for them”.

“This is really about bringing young people into the conversation, thinking about how we use digital interventions in a way that is smart, cost-effective and really supports the young people’s mental health.”

Accessibility

As the name suggests, the Atlantic Futures project focuses on the “Atlantic corridor”, a region spanning from Donegal to Kerry. Prof Barry notes that accessing support in these areas, many of which are rural, is often an uphill battle.

According to Power, rural youth frequently cite “lack of public transport” as a barrier to accessing services, making digital options “transformative” for those with reliable internet access. Similarly, Prof O’Neill regards accessibility as a priority: “We want to understand what works best for those young people who are not in the big cities and towns,” she explains.

Engagement

Professors Mulvenna and Barry acknowledge that digital mental health tools often have high dropout rates, which pose a future challenge. “People start but lose interest and don’t finish, so the impact is diluted,” notes Prof Barry.

“This a problem frequently encountered in other ‘self-help’ styled supports in which a relationship with a therapist is missing,” adds Gary Donohoe, professor of psychology at NUIG. “As much as 50 per cent of the success of mental health interventions depends on this relationship.”

One solution, according to Prof Mulvenna, could be to “combine human and digital” elements to provide some face-to-face interaction that boosts engagement. Power recognises the benefits of this blended approach, noting that digital tools can be “effective add-ons” to existing models of care, used between in-person sessions for additional support.

Early Intervention

Digital tools can serve as a valuable source of extra help for young people who may not require treatment from a psychiatrist or psychologist. Power emphasises the scalability of these interventions for psychoeducation, peer support, and active listening. In his view, investing in talking therapy and mental health literacy as an early intervention is key to preventing young people from deteriorating to the extent that they need acute care.

Prof O’Neill notes that digital tools may also have a role in suicide prevention by reducing isolation and providing an alternative means of connection for young people who may find it difficult to communicate verbally.