Development of an online well-being intervention for young people: an evaluation protocol.
BACKGROUND
Research has shown that improving well-being using positive mental health interventions can be useful for predicting and preventing mental illness. Implementing online interventions may be an effective way to reach young people, given their familiarity with technology.


OBJECTIVE
This study will assess the effectiveness of a website called the "Online Wellbeing Centre (OWC)," designed for the support and improvement of mental health and well-being in young Australians aged between 16 and 25 years. As the active component of the study, the OWC will introduce a self-guided app recommendation service called "The Toolbox: The best apps for your brain and body" developed by ReachOut.com. The Toolbox is a responsive website that serves as a personalized, ongoing recommendation service for technology-based tools and apps to improve well-being. It allows users to personalize their experience according to their individual needs.


METHODS
This study will be a two-arm, randomized controlled trial following a wait-list control design. The primary outcome will be changes in psychological well-being measured by the Mental Health Continuum Short Form. The secondary outcomes will be drawn from a subsample of participants and will include depression scores measured by the Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale, and quality of life measured by the Assessment of Quality of Life-four dimensions (AQOL-4D) index. Cost-effectiveness analysis will be conducted based on a primary outcome of cost per unique visit to the OWC. Utility-based outcomes will also be incorporated into the analysis allowing a secondary outcome to be cost per quality-adjusted life year gained (based on the AQOL-4D values). Resource use associated with both the intervention and control groups will be collected using a customized questionnaire. Online- and community-based recruitment strategies will be implemented, and the effectiveness of each approach will be analyzed. Participants will be recruited from the general Australian population and randomized online. The trial will last for 4 weeks.


RESULTS
Small but clinically significant increases in well-being symptoms are expected to be detected in the intervention group compared with the control group.


CONCLUSIONS
If this intervention proves to be effective, it will have an impact on the future design and implementation of online-based well-being interventions as a valid and cost-effective way to support mental health clinical treatment. Findings regarding recruitment effectiveness will also contribute to developing better ways to engage this population in research.


BACKGROUND
This study is registered in the Australian New Zealand Clinical Trials Registry (ANZCTR): ACTRN12614000710628.
Flinders Human Behaviour & Health Research Unit (FHBHRU), Department of Psychiatry, School of Medicine, Flinders University, Adelaide, Australia. gaston.antezana@flinders.edu.au.
Gaston
http://orcid.org/0000-0002-4257-0779
G
Antezana
Niranjan
http://orcid.org/0000-0003-2868-9260
N
Bidargaddi
Victoria
http://orcid.org/0000-0002-5832-6324
V
Blake
Geoffrey
http://orcid.org/0000-0002-2504-8102
G
Schrader
Billingsley
http://orcid.org/0000-0002-2128-3404
B
Kaambwa
Stephen
http://orcid.org/0000-0002-1306-9686
S
Quinn
Simone
http://orcid.org/0000-0001-8395-1087
S
Orlowski
Megan
http://orcid.org/0000-0001-5696-0578
M
Winsall
Malcolm
http://orcid.org/0000-0001-7306-5591
M
Battersby
apps; engagement; mental health; online intervention; well-being; young people