Awareness of beyondblue: the national depression initiative in Australian young people

Abstract

Objective: To measure awareness of beyondblue: the national depression initiative and Ybblue (the youth program of beyondblue) in Australian young people and associations between awareness and measures of mental health literacy.

Method: A national telephone survey of mental health literacy was conducted with 3746 young people aged 12-25 years. Participants were asked to spontaneously recall organizations related to mental health problems, as well as whether they recognized beyondblue.

Results: Overall, 44% of young people were aware of beyondblue, including 12.1% who spontaneously recalled beyondblue as an organization related to mental health problems. Awareness was lower in males and generally increased with age. Awareness of beyondblue was associated with better recognition of depression and greater exposure to depression in self or family and friends. Participants aware of beyondblue were more likely to rate antidepressants and some professional interventions as helpful for depression, and were less likely to rate dealing with the problem alone or using alcohol as helpful. Awareness was not associated with social distance scores or psychological distress.

Conclusions: beyondblue: the national depression initiative has reached a good proportion of Australian young people, and awareness is associated with better mental health literacy. Males and younger adolescents could be targeted for improvements in awareness.