Evaluation of the Naturalistic User Experience of the Website "ich Bin Alles" - an Information Platform for Children and Adolescents with and Without Depression and Their Relatives

Depressive disorders are among the most common mental illnesses in children and adolescents and were already on the rise before the COVID-19 pandemic. This trend has been further exacerbated by the pandemic. Depression in adolescents is associated with particularly serious consequences, such as school and social problems, increased risk of suicide and impaired mental health in adulthood. If depression persists, the risk of chronification increases and continuous school attendance or continuation of vocational training is more difficult. The longer a depressive illness is not (effectively) treated, the lower the likelihood of remission and the higher the risk of chronification with further depressive episodes over the course of the illness. Although there are effective forms of treatment, in Germany only around 12% of adolescents with increased symptoms of depression seek professional treatment. The main barriers for adolescents to seek professional help include, for example, individual factors (low knowledge of mental disorders), social factors (e.g., perceived social stigmatisation) and systemic and structural barriers (e.g., limited access to professional help). In order to meet the need for action in a timely manner that meets the needs of the target group, the Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry of the Hospital of the LMU Munich and the Beisheim Foundation launched the innovative digital information portal "ich bin alles" ("I am everything"; www.ich-bin-alles.de) on depression and mental health in youth in 2021. Due to a sharp increase in online health information in recent years, the quality of this information and information portals has increasingly become the centre of attention. A review of the quality of mental health information websites found that many of the websites had shortcomings in terms of transparency, presentation and accuracy of content. These limitations were confirmed in a more recent study of depression websites. The comprehensibility of the content is also often limited, especially for users with a lower level of education and/or health literacy.

Due to the high relevance of comprehensively evaluating web-based information services on mental health and mental illness, the aim of this study is to use established methods to learn more about the visitors of "ich bin alles" and their user experience. This study will build on the approach of previous studies on website evaluation, which usually follow a multi-method approach: The evaluation of website analyses using tools such as Matomo; as well as an online questionnaire. The study is intended to provide clues as to whether the "ich bin alles" information platform is a useful and trustworthy source of information for the target groups. The information obtained is of central importance for potential adaptations and optimizations of the "ich bin alles" website. Another aim of this study is to determine whether "ich bin alles" can actually reach its desired target groups. The results of the data collection also provide an important basis for future approaches aimed at informing children, young people and their parents about mental health issues and mental illness in a way that is appropriate for the target group.