Help-Seeking Behavior, Mental Health Issue (E.G., Depression, Psychosis, Personality Disorder, Substance Abuse)
Conditions
Keywords
mental health promotion campaign, veterans
Brief summary
This pilot study seeks to determine if exposure to the Make the Connection campaign messages developed by the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) is associated with changes in mental-health related outcomes, specifically: (1) psychosocial determinants that drive help seeking behaviors (knowledge, attitudes and intentions); and (2) perceived barriers to seeking care. Participants are randomly assigned to message exposure or control (no exposure) conditions. Data from this project will inform mental health education and outreach efforts targeted towards Veterans experiencing mental health concerns.
Interventions
OTHERExposure to Make the Connection messages
Participants are exposed to Make the Connection messages (each approximately 3 minutes in length) weekly for over a four-month study period through the study mobile application.
OTHERActive Control Group
Participants are exposed to VA news clips/segments (each approximately 3 minutes in length) weekly for over a four-month study period through the study mobile application.
Sponsors
Canandaigua VA Medical Center
Study design
Allocation
RANDOMIZED
Intervention model
PARALLEL
Primary purpose
HEALTH_SERVICES_RESEARCH
Masking
SINGLE (Subject)
Eligibility
Sex/Gender
ALL
Age
18 Years to 89 Years
Healthy volunteers
Yes
Inclusion criteria
Veterans of all gender/sex, race/ethnicities that in the past 6 months: * utilized health services in the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA); * screened positive on the PHQ-2, AUDIT-C or PC-PTSD and/or received a mental health diagnosis as documented in VA medical record * Fluent in English language * Capable of understanding goals of study * Capable of providing verbal consent * Willing and able to download/use study Android mobile application for duration of study
Exclusion criteria
* Not a U.S. Veteran who has utilized VA health care in the past 6 months * Did not screen positive and/or was not diagnosed with mental health disorder * Determined cognitively impaired and unable to provide verbal consent * Determined to be in high distress during recruitment screening * Currently institutionalized (i.e., hospitalized; incarcerated, etc.) * Unwilling and/or unable to download and use use the study app
Design outcomes
Primary
| Measure | Time frame | Description |
|---|---|---|
| change in help seeking behavior | change from baseline behavior at 16 weeks | self-report treatment engagement in VA or non-VA services |
Secondary
| Measure | Time frame | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Attitudes towards help seeking | assessed up to 16 weeks | self-reported treatment beliefs and likelihood for help seeking |
| Barriers to care | assessed up to 16 weeks | The 6-item stigma Scale developed by Britt et al. (2000; 2008) to assess stigma of accessing treatment for psychological problems among military personnel is used w/a 5 point likert scale (1=strongly disagree to 5=strongly agree). Logistical barriers to care are also assessed using the 5-item Barriers to Care scale (Hoge et al. 2004) to assess barriers to accessing psychological treatment w/ a 5 point likert scale (1=strongly disagree; 5= strongly agree). Higher values represent a worse outcome (e.g., higher endorsement of stigma). |
Other
| Measure | Time frame | Description |
|---|---|---|
| change in social support | change from baseline behavior at 16 weeks | self-report survey using the multidimensional scale of perceived social support (Zimmet et al. 1990). This is a 12-item scale of perceived social support from family and friends. Each item is scored 1-7 on a likert scale (1=very strongly disagree; 7=very strongly agree) and summed with a possible range of 7 to 84. Higher scores indicate higher awareness/belief of social support. |
Outcome results
None listed