title: Privacy Issues in the Development of a Virtual Mental Health Clinic for University Students: A Qualitative Study.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  There is a growing need to develop online services for university students with the capacity to complement existing services and efficiently address student mental health problems. Previous research examining the development and acceptability of online interventions has revealed that issues such as privacy critically impact user willingness to engage with these services.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  To explore university student perspectives on privacy issues related to using an online mental health service within the context of the development of an online, university-based virtual mental health clinic.
  
  
  METHODS
  There were two stages of data collection. The first stage consisted of four 1.5-hour focus groups conducted with university students (n=19; 10 female, 9 male, mean age = 21.6 years) to determine their ideas about the virtual clinic including privacy issues. The second stage comprised three 1-hour prototype testing sessions conducted with university students (n=6; 3 male, 3 female, mean age = 21.2 years) using participatory design methods to develop and refine a service model for the virtual clinic and determine student views on privacy within this context.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The students raised a number of issues related to privacy in relation to the development of the university virtual clinic. Major topics included the types of personal information they would be willing to provide (minimal information and optional mental health data), concern about potential access to their personal data by the university, the perceived stigma associated with registering for the service, and privacy and anonymity concerns related to online forums contained within the virtual clinic.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Students would be more comfortable providing personal information and engaging with the virtual clinic if they trust the privacy and security of the service. Implications of this study include building the clinic in a flexible way to accommodate user preferences.
authors.affiliation: National Institute for Mental Health Research Research School of Population Health The Australian National University Canberra Australia.
authors.forename: Amelia
authors.identifier: 0000-0001-6351-9844
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Gulliver
authors.affiliation: National Institute for Mental Health Research Research School of Population Health The Australian National University Canberra Australia.
authors.forename: Kylie
authors.identifier: 0000-0003-4160-492X
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Bennett
authors.affiliation: National Institute for Mental Health Research Research School of Population Health The Australian National University Canberra Australia.
authors.forename: Anthony
authors.identifier: 0000-0002-0399-4798
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Bennett
authors.affiliation: National Institute for Mental Health Research Research School of Population Health The Australian National University Canberra Australia ; Young and Well Cooperative Research Centre Melbourne Australia.
authors.forename: Louise M
authors.identifier: 0000-0001-5694-4631
authors.initials: LM
authors.lastname: Farrer
authors.affiliation: National Institute for Mental Health Research Research School of Population Health The Australian National University Canberra Australia.
authors.forename: Julia
authors.identifier: 0000-0001-9910-0455
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Reynolds
authors.affiliation: National Institute for Mental Health Research Research School of Population Health The Australian National University Canberra Australia.
authors.forename: Kathleen M
authors.identifier: 0000-0003-1556-0708
authors.initials: KM
authors.lastname: Griffiths
keywords: internet; mental health; qualitative; student; university; virtual clinic