Background. More than 25% of Dutch youths is currently labeled as ‘psychologically unhealthy’ and access to care is often unavailable due to long waiting lists. In order to provide adequate care to...Show moreBackground. More than 25% of Dutch youths is currently labeled as ‘psychologically unhealthy’ and access to care is often unavailable due to long waiting lists. In order to provide adequate care to young individuals before clinical transition occurs, the effects of an online and clinical- and peer-moderated platform, ‘ENgage YOung people earlY’ (ENYOY), on the improvement of youth mental health were examined. It was hypothesized that spending six months on ENYOY would have a significant impact on social and occupational functioning, psychological distress and positive health; that results would be significantly different for highly sensitive persons (HSPs) and that HSPs would report different platform experience compared to non-HSPs. Methods. This study adopted a mixed-methods approach. Based on a sample of 45 participants, three within-subjects repeated measures ANOVAs with three levels (point in time: baseline, three and six months) and high sensitivity as a between-subjects factor were conducted in order to analyze the effect of platform participation on psychological distress, positive health and functioning over time. Ten in-depth interviews were conducted and analyzed using open coding, in order to gain more insight on individual platform experience and differences between HSPs and non-HSPs. Results. Using ENYOY for six months had a significant effect on functioning, psychological distress and positive health. Significant effects for all points in time were found for functioning and significant effects for the first two time points were found for positive health and psychological distress. No significant interaction effect was found between HSP and the three variables over time. Qualitative analysis showed overall satisfaction with ENYOY as an online preventative tool for emerging mental health complaints based on areas of usability, user friendliness, usefulness, impact, inclusivity and connection with others. Moreover, useful suggestions for future implementation were given. Conclusion. The present study demonstrated that using ENYOY improves functioning, psychological distress and positive health among young individuals with emerging mental health problems over the course of six months and that ENYOY is experienced as a useful tool to treat subclinical psychological complaints. Considering limitations, future research might focus more on high sensitivity as a factor in clinical settings, as well as on the implementation of ENYOY as a fully automated platform.Show less
