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Meta-Analysis
. 2023 Sep 4;23(1):647.
doi: 10.1186/s12888-023-05143-7.

The effect of web-based educational interventions on mental health literacy, stigma and help-seeking intentions/attitudes in young people: systematic review and meta-analysis

Abouzar Nazari  1 , Gholamreza Garmaroudi  2 , Abbas Rahimi Foroushani  3 , Maede Hosseinnia  4
Affiliations
Meta-Analysis

The effect of web-based educational interventions on mental health literacy, stigma and help-seeking intentions/attitudes in young people: systematic review and meta-analysis

Abouzar Nazari et al. BMC Psychiatry. .

Abstract

Objectives: This study aims to provide a systematic review and meta-analysis of the literature on The Effect of Web-Based Educational Interventions on Mental Health Literacy, Stigma and Help-seeking intentions/attitudes in young people.

Methods: Articles in English published between April 1975 and February 2023 were retrieved from seven databases, leading to a total of 2023 articles identified.

Results: 20 studies were included after applying exclusion criteria, 10 of which were eligible for meta-analysis. Results showed that web-based educational interventions had a significant positive effect on mental health literacy knowledge (SMD = 0.70, 95% CI = [0.16, 1.25]), but not on stigma (SMD = -0.20, 95% CI = [-0.48, 0.08]) or help-seeking intentions/attitudes (SMD = 0.48, 95% CI = [-0.50, 1.46]).

Conclusion: This study reviewed and analyzed the effect of web-based educational interventions on mental health literacy, stigma, and help-seeking intentions/attitudes among young people. The results showed that web-based educational interventions improved mental health literacy knowledge, but not stigma or help-seeking outcomes. The study suggested several recommendations to enhance the effectiveness of web-based educational interventions on stigma and help-seeking outcomes, such as using more rigorous designs and methods, more comprehensive and multifaceted interventions, more tailored and targeted interventions, and more collaborative and participatory approaches. The study concluded that web-based educational interventions may have a greater impact on reducing stigma and promoting help-seeking among young people, which may ultimately lead to better mental health outcomes and well-being for this population.

Keywords: Help-seeking intentions/attitudes; Intervention; Mental health literacy; Meta-analysis; Stigma; Systematic review; Young people.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.

The authors declare no competing interests.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
PRISMA 2020 flow diagram of papers included in the review The Effect of Web-Based Educational Interventions on Mental Health Literacy, Stigma and Help-seeking intentions/attitudes in young people, search period: 1975 to February 2023
Fig. 2
Fig. 2
Forest plot for the effect of Web-Based Educational Interventions on mental health literacy, expressed as the mean differences between the intervention and the control groups. The area of each square is proportional to the inverse of the variance of the SMD. Horizontal lines represent 95% CIs. Diamonds represent pooled estimates from random-effects analysis
Fig. 3
Fig. 3
Forest plot for the effect of Web-Based Educational Interventions on help-seeking intentions/attitudes, expressed as the mean differences between the intervention and the control groups. The area of each square is proportional to the inverse of the variance of the SMD. Horizontal lines represent 95% CIs. Diamonds represent pooled estimates from random-effects analysis
Fig. 4
Fig. 4
Forest plot for the effect of Web-Based Educational Interventions on Stigma related to mental illnesses, expressed as the mean differences between the intervention and the control groups. The area of each square is proportional to the inverse of the variance of the SMD. Horizontal lines represent 95% CIs. Diamonds represent pooled estimates from random-effects analysis
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