<p>Dr Suvena Sethi of the University of Sydney and his colleagues have found that interactive online mental health resources and traditional counselling can help improve the mental wellbeing of teenagers.<br /><br />The study assessed the effectiveness of online mental health resources (static and interactive), including tools used to assist rural and remote young people suffering from mild-to-moderate depression.<br /><br />The study, titled 'Internet Self-Help for Depression', focused on evaluating current online mental health resources to demonstrate their effectiveness as both stand-alone tools and tools used in conjunction with traditional therapy.<br /><br />"Each of these innovative online approaches to the prevention and management of mild to moderate depression are in use globally.<br /><br />"However, the independent and combined effectiveness of online mental health help tools being accessed by adolescents with education websites or online support groups had not been investigated in combination with face-to-face cognitive behavioural therapy.<br /><br />"As such, our research concluded that for adolescents, the best form of depression treatment is a combination of online self-help tools used in conjunction with offline counselling," team member Dr Andrew Campbell said.<br /><br />The findings have been published in the 'Journal of Technology in Human Services'.</p>
<p>Dr Suvena Sethi of the University of Sydney and his colleagues have found that interactive online mental health resources and traditional counselling can help improve the mental wellbeing of teenagers.<br /><br />The study assessed the effectiveness of online mental health resources (static and interactive), including tools used to assist rural and remote young people suffering from mild-to-moderate depression.<br /><br />The study, titled 'Internet Self-Help for Depression', focused on evaluating current online mental health resources to demonstrate their effectiveness as both stand-alone tools and tools used in conjunction with traditional therapy.<br /><br />"Each of these innovative online approaches to the prevention and management of mild to moderate depression are in use globally.<br /><br />"However, the independent and combined effectiveness of online mental health help tools being accessed by adolescents with education websites or online support groups had not been investigated in combination with face-to-face cognitive behavioural therapy.<br /><br />"As such, our research concluded that for adolescents, the best form of depression treatment is a combination of online self-help tools used in conjunction with offline counselling," team member Dr Andrew Campbell said.<br /><br />The findings have been published in the 'Journal of Technology in Human Services'.</p>