Oksana Zelenko
Queesland University of Technology (QUT), Brisbane, Australia
Title: Developing and testing a preliminary framework to engage young men in help-seeking, using a transdisciplinary approach of mental health, screen studies and participatory design
Biography
Biography: Oksana Zelenko
Abstract
Only about 50 per cent of people with depression and 30 per cent with anxiety seek professional help, which is a significant barrier to treatment delivery. Thus, the promotion of help seeking behaviours is of paramount importance for service providers and policy makers. Young men (YM) are a high-risk and disengaged group with low access to mental health services and declining help-seeking despite the wide availability of technology-enabled interventions for engagement. As a response, this exploratory pilot study used a novel configuration of transdisciplinary approaches using the intersection of mental health, screen studies and design research, to develop a novel framework to engaging YM in help-seeking. The foundational research extrapolated key patterns of audience engagement from globally renowned “Hollywood” genres (such as action, adventure and comedy), focusing on key codes, conventions and shared frames of cultural references, to inform the development and wider adoption of health communication approaches for YM. Further, YM (n=10) were directly involved in the design and testing of mental health resources during two participatory design workshops (PDWs). The workshops included exploring YM’s preferences of screen genres, narratives, communication pathways and technology use in the context of mental health help-seeking. YM participated in creative activities to co-design a mental health campaign that promotes YM’s engagement to discuss and seek help for mental health issues. Further outcomes of the project included the development and testing of a preliminary framework for screen genre- and narrative-based engagement strategies to improve help-seeking behaviours in YM. By integrating evidence-based mobile health (mHealth) interventions with screen media and co-design, this research has extended understanding on how to engage YM around the topic of mental health in relevant and meaningful ways.