Currently, one in five rangatahi (young people) in Aotearoa report difficulty accessing support for their mental health concerns. This treatment gap has prompted academics and clinicians to consider whether online and/or school-based interventions can increase access to evidence-based mental health care. This research is a randomised controlled trial to evaluate the effectiveness of Project SOLVE, an online problem-solving intervention, compared to Project Success, an activity that teaches young people study skills. Underdeveloped problem-solving skills have been associated with varying presentations of mental distress, including depression, hopelessness, and suicidal ideation. This association has meant problem solving is often featured as a core component of therapeutic interventions, and strengthening problem solving skills has been shown to improve clinical outcomes in youth who experience mental health concerns. For these reasons, the investigators hope that Project SOLVE will support the development of problem solving in rangatahi in Aotearoa and have a positive effect on their proximal and longitudinal mental health outcomes.
Study Type
INTERVENTIONAL
Allocation
RANDOMIZED
Purpose
OTHER
Masking
NONE
Enrollment
300
Project SOLVE is a 30-minute self-guided online activity that includes an introduction to problem solving and which types of problems might be most appropriate for this skill; a description of how the brain facilitates problem solving; vignettes demonstrating how older adolescents have solved their problems; scientific evidence that problem solving can work; practice exercises; and activities to encourage the use of problem solving in daily life. The intervention teaches students how to solve problems via the "SOLVE" framework (i.e., Saying what the problem is; One goal to aim for; Listing some solutions; Voting for the best solution; Exploring what works).
Project Success is comparable to Project SOLVE in format and length (i.e., a 30 minute online, self-guided intervention) and teaches young people three strategies to reach their academic goals: how to take effective notes, how to break big assignments down into smaller tasks, and how to ask trusted others for help.
St Peter's School Cambridge
Cambridge, New Zealand
RECRUITINGInternalising and externalising symptoms
Internalising and externalising symptoms will be measured using the Behaviour and Feelings Survey.
Time frame: Immediately pre-intervention, immediately post-intervention and 12 weeks post-intervention
Social Problem Solving Skills
Social problem solving will be measured by the Social Problem-Solving Inventory - Revised Short-Form.
Time frame: Immediately pre-intervention and 12 weeks post-intervention
General Self-Efficacy
Self-efficacy will be measured using the General Self-Efficacy Scale.
Time frame: Immediately pre-intervention, immediately post-intervention and 12 weeks post-intervention
Hope
Hope will be measured using the Child Hope Scale.
Time frame: Immediately pre-intervention, immediately post-intervention and 12 weeks post-intervention
Hopelessness
Hopelessness will be measured using the Beck Hopelessness Scale - Shortened.
Time frame: Immediately pre-intervention, immediately post-intervention and 12 weeks post-intervention
Well-Being
Well-being will be measured using the World Health Organisation Well-Being Index.
Time frame: Immediately pre-intervention and 12 weeks post-intervention
Educational Self-Efficacy
Educational self-efficacy will be measured using the Educational Self-Efficacy Scale.
Time frame: Immediately pre-intervention, immediately post-intervention and 12 weeks post-intervention
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