RESUMO
Background: Young adults (18 to 30 years of age) are confronted with numerous challenges, such as academic stressors and peer pressure. The MoreGoodDays program was co-designed with young adults to alleviate psychological issues, improve their mental well-being and provide support for young adults in Alberta during the COVID-19 pandemic and beyond. Objective: The current study aimed to explore subscribers' perspectives and satisfaction with the MoreGoodDays supportive text messaging program and the impact of the program on self-rated clinical measures. Methods: Subscribers of the MoreGoodDays program were invited via a link delivered in a text message to complete online evaluation surveys at six weeks, three months and six months. Program perception and satisfaction questions were adapted from those used to evaluate related programs. Anxiety, depression and PTSD symptoms were respectively assessed using the Generalized Anxiety Disorder-7 scale, the Patient Health Questionnaire-9 scale and the PTSD Civilian Checklist 5, and resilience levels were assessed using the Brief Resilience Scale (BRS). Data were analyzed with SPSS version 26 for Windows utilizing descriptive and inferential statistics. Results: There was a total of 168 respondents across the three follow-up time points (six weeks, three months and six months). The overall mean satisfaction with the MoreGoodDays program was 8.74 (SD = 1.4). A total of 116 (69.1%) respondents agreed or strongly agreed that MoreGoodDays messages helped them cope with stress, and 118 (70.3) agreed the messages helped them cope with loneliness. Similarly, 130 (77.3%) respondents agreed that MoreGoodDays messages made them feel connected to a support system, and 135 (80.4) indicated the program helped to improve their overall mental well-being. In relation to clinical outcomes, the ANOVA test showed no significant differences in mean scores for the PHQ-9, GAD-7 and PCL-C scales and the BRS from baseline to the three follow-up time points. In addition, there was no statistically significant difference in the prevalence of likely GAD, likely MDD, likely PTSD and low resilience at baseline and at six weeks. Conclusions: Notwithstanding the lack of statistically significant clinical improvement in subscribers of the MoreGoodDays program, the high program satisfaction suggests that subscribers accepted the technology-based intervention co-created with young adults, and this offers a vital tool to complement existing programs.
RESUMO
BACKGROUND: The COVID-19 pandemic has increased psychological disorders among adolescents and young adults. METHODS: This study used a cross-sectional design. An online survey questionnaire was used to collect sociodemographic and clinical information from subscribers of MoreGoodDays program, a daily supportive text message program co-designed with adolescents and young adults for their peers in Alberta. Validated instruments, the Generalized Anxiety Disorder GAD-7 scale and Patient Health Questionnaire-9 PHQ-9 were used to collect information on likely GAD and likely major depressive disorder (MDD). Data was analyzed with SPSS version 25 using chi-squared tests and binary logistic regression analysis. RESULTS: 343 subscribers of MoreGoodDays participated in the survey. Overall, 117 (56.0%) respondents had a likely MDD and 97 (46.6%) had a likely GAD. Participants who would like to receive mental health counselling were 27 times more likely to experience GAD (OR = 27; 95% CI: 3.09-250.00) and 40 times more likely to experience MDD (OR = 40.03; 95% CI: 4.43-361.51) than those who did not. Respondents who had received mental health counselling in the past were 18.5 times more likely to experience MDD compared with those who had not (OR = 18.52; 95% CI: 1.55-200.00). Demographic variables, including age, education, employment, and relationship status, and clinical variables, such as history of anxiety, depression, obsessive-compulsive disorder, ADHD, and adverse childhood experience, did not independently the predict presence of likely GAD or MDD in subscribers of MoreGoodDays. CONCLUSION: The prevalence of anxiety and depression was relatively high among subscribers of MoreGoodDays, indicating the long-term effect of the COVID-19 pandemic. This finding has significant implications in the broader contextof mental health research and emphasizes the need for more research into innovative mental health support for this cohort. The desire to receive counselling was predictive of both anxiety and depression and is a positive sign of the openness of this cohort to receive psychological intervention. Since this group is mostly adapted to mobile text technology, government agencies and policymakers should prioritize and implement readily accessible interventions such as supportive text messages to support their psychological well-being.