title: Thought Spot: Co-Creating Mental Health Solutions with Post-Secondary Students.
abstract: It is difficult for the nearly 20% of Canadian 15- to 24-year olds reporting symptoms to seek the help they need within the current mental health system. Web-based and mobile health interventions are promising tools for reaching this group; having the capacity to reduce access-to-service barriers and engage youth in promoting their mental well-being. A three-phased, iterative, co-creation developmental approach was used to develop Thought Spot, a platform to better enable post-secondary students to seek mental health support. Co-creation activities included student development teams, hosting a hackathon, conducting focus groups and evidence-based workshops and student advisory groups. Evaluation results highlighted the need for greater role clarity and strategies for sustainable engagement in the co-creation process. Lessons learned are informing the project optimization phase and will be utilized to inform the design and implementation of an RCT, assessing impact on help seeking behaviour.
authors.affiliation: University Health Network.
authors.forename: David
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Wiljer
authors.affiliation: Centre for Addiction and Mental Health.
authors.forename: Andrew
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Johnson
authors.affiliation: Centre for Addiction and Mental Health.
authors.forename: Erica
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: McDiarmid
authors.affiliation: Centre for Addiction and Mental Health.
authors.forename: Alexxa
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Abi-Jaoude
authors.affiliation: Centre for Addiction and Mental Health.
authors.forename: Genevieve
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Ferguson
authors.affiliation: Centre for Addiction and Mental Health.
authors.forename: Elisa
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Hollenberg
authors.affiliation: University of Toronto.
authors.forename: Nicole
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: van Heerwaarden
authors.affiliation: Centre for Addiction and Mental Health.
authors.forename: Tim
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Tripp
authors.affiliation: University of Toronto.
authors.forename: Marcus
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Law
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D002170:Canada; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008603:Mental Health; D013334:Students; D017216:Telemedicine; D013850:Thinking; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: Student mental health; co-creation; crowdsourcing