Evaluation of a new online wellbeing resource for young people aged 16-25 - “The Toolbox: the best apps for your brain and body

This project will evaluate the effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of the “Toolbox” which consists of a website and virtual application as an online space for young people to access a personalised, ongoing recommendation service for evidence based tools and applications (apps) to support their wellbeing and mental health. The Toolbox has been developed by ReachOut.com by Inspire Foundation under contract with the Young and Well Cooperative Research Centre (Young and Well CRC). The Toolbox has over 50 different tools that have been reviewed by a panel of both mental health professionals and consumers for their usefulness, effectiveness and usability. The Toolbox focuses on wellbeing and positive functioning, and is designed to improve (a) emotional wellbeing (i.e. positive affect and life satisfaction); (b) psychological wellbeing (i.e. self-acceptance, personal growth, purpose in life, environmental mastery, autonomy and positive relations with others; (c) social wellbeing (i.e. social acceptance, social contribution, social coherence social integration, and social actualization); and (d) physical wellbeing (Shochet, Keyes & Smith, 2011). This study will evaluate the Toolbox by assessing changes in the participant’s wellbeing levels before and after using the website and associated apps. We intend to recruit young people living in Australia who are between 16-25 years old by using online and community based recruitment strategies. After login participants will be randomized into two groups. The intervention group will have immediate access to the Toolbox while the control group will be allocated to waiting list for 4 weeks. All participants will be asked to provide general demographics and significant covariate variables at sign up and prompted to complete surveys tracking wellbeing changes at baseline, 4 weeks, 3 and 6 months. The Toolbox houses over 50 mental health and wellbeing tools and apps that have been reviewed by a panel of both mental health professionals and consumers for their credibility, functionality, engagement and aesthetics according to the Mobile Application Rating Scale developed by Queensland University of Technology (Stoyanov et al. 2014). During the intervention, users can select one or more wellbeing goals and are recommended trusted apps that will help them to achieve their goal. If they are unsure where to start, a short quiz will help them to discern the area they’d like to focus on and recommend relevant apps to them. They can come back any time using a secure log in to update their goals and download new apps. Users will also have the ability to track their progress in real time. Participants are free to use the Toolbox at their own discretion. The intervention group will have access to the Toolbox for a total of 6 months. To ensure adherence, emails and text messages will be sent to participants at evaluation points throughout the trial to remind them to log in and complete follow-up measures.