Young People’s Views on Electronic Mental Health Assessment: Prefer to Type than Talk?

Abstract

For mental health professionals to provide personalized early interventions, young people need to disclose sensitive information to a clinician they are unlikely to have yet formed a relationship with. We conducted in-depth qualitative interviews with 129 young people aged 12–25 years from several sites across Australia to gauge views on whether young people thought that an electronic psychosocial assessment tool could help them initially disclose personal information. Additionally, we were interested in whether young people from different demographic groups held similar views around using the e-tool. Results provided support for the use of an e-tool, with most young people stating that it could help in the disclosure of particularly embarrassing problems. The main advantages reported were that the e-tool would support disclosure without fear of judgment by health professionals, and would enable young people greater input in deciding what to focus on. Young people who held a preference to simply talk were most concerned about the clinician missing non-verbal cues. These findings highlight the value of incorporating electronic options within clinical practice, but also the need for health professionals to work within a flexible framework guided by the individual preferences of each of their clients.