PsYoungSupport Internet and Communication Technology Based Health Programmes - Information, Education and Support to Young People Close to Persons With Mental Illness

In the last decades it has been stated that the mental health of young people has deteriorated. Nowadays, the main part of the psychiatric care are out-patient care, family, relatives and close friends get involved and needs to take large responsibility for their relative or friend with mental illness. Therefore it is important to acquire knowledge that could benefit the patients and their families. There is still a gap in the knowledge as to which social support, such as information and education processes, are of value to the patient and family struggling with depression, and as to how individuals benefits from these components in their functional recovery from depression. Accordingly, pedagogic processes as an integrated part of patient-centred care and treatment may be increasingly important to study.

The overall aim is to evaluate internet and communication technology (ICT) health efforts, i.e. information, education and support for young adults who are first degree relatives or represent the close social network (relative or close friend) of individuals with mental illness, with regard to the process (the quality and usefulness of the support) and the effect (on health and quality of life, situation as relative or part of close social network and consumption of other support/care) of the intervention.

PsYoungSupport is a research program comprising three phases, Phase I is a survey of young relatives' and close friends' needs for internet based information, education and support, Phase II is the development of a website, and Phase III is an intervention based on the previous phases. The investigators have a participatory design, including young persons in the whole research process. Primary outcome measures are social interaction, the degree of subjective and objective burden, stigmatisation and illness. Data are going to be based on both qualitative and quantitative approaches. The results are also going to evaluate cost effectiveness and the process of learning.

Within three years this project will describe different kind of implications for relatives and close friends who are caring for persons suffering from mental illness. Increased accessibility to knowledge about how mental health can benefit them and their relatives and close friends will facilitate for and empower these persons, and also increase their participation in society and with that increase the democracy for these persons in the society. Within five years this study can be integrated within the Swedish national website Care on line.