Why www.thelowdown.co.nz?
• National Depression Initiative- Very successful television campaign – 93%
prompted recall of advertisements for total population, 96% for Maori and 91% amongst young people aged 16-24 years
- Strong recall of the help seeking message (60%)
- 58% had discussed the ads- BUT less than 10% of helpline calls were
from young people, who tend not to visit GPs either
Defining the problem – the context
• Extent of the problem amongst youth (15-24 years)
- 1 in 11 young New Zealanders will experience a major depressive disorder over a 12 month period
- Youth have the highest hospitalisation rate for intentional self-harm – twice as high as those aged 25-34 years
- 100 young people die each year by suicide- Depression is a factor in most suicide
attempts
Defining the problem – the context
• Young people wanted- Easy navigation and good information- Clean, low-key look – not too bright and
busy- A trustworthy voice – of authority- Stories from real people- Interactive stuff- Professional, personalised, back-up
support – they wanted to know who they were talking to
What did we do about it?
• What young people got - website- Designers produced leading edge website - Excellent buy-in from young people,
including ‘talent’ who told their stories- NZ music was profiled and made available
for download- Fact sheets were written and checked with
expert advisory group- Launch and events featuring celebrities
and musicians attracted lots of media
What did we do about it?
• Website evaluation results (online survey)
- 90% very positive response from online survey respondents on all aspects of web function and layout
- Key message was about help – you can get help, you can help others
- 95% would recommend the site to someone in need
BUT- Fewer than 14% of 15-24 year olds
recognised the Lowdown name
How well did the Lowdown work?
Lifeline Aotearoa support services
• SMS Text 5626
• Email [email protected]
• Moderated message board
• Webcam service (latest communication channel)
Service Uptake: Jan 08 – June 09
• 119,464 total website visits.
• 148,802 text messages received and sent.
• 5265 emails received and sent.
• 1530 posts on the message board.
Number of unique service users
From Lifeline Aotearoa data
Txt traffic by ethnicity: Jan 08 – Jun 09
Email traffic by ethnicity: Jan 08 – Jun 09
Text and Email users
• 47% of text contacts were classified by thelowdown
team as relating to depression
• 49% of email contacts were classified by thelowdown
team as relating to depression
• 31% of text contacts reported suicidal thoughts
• 28% of email contacts reported suicidal thoughts
Level of depression (txt)
Text and Email users
• Text and email users were both predominately female
(77% and 67% respectively)
• The main age grouping for text users was 15 – 21 years
(63% of users)
• Age profile for email users was much older than for text users
47% were aged 22 yrs & over compared with 16% of text users
• 77% of text users were students
• 40% of email users were students
Txt & e-mail brief intervention services
• Explore presenting issues and support problem solving
• Non judgemental support
• Information
• Signposting other services
• Support significant others
• Strengthen social support networks
• Support hope, self esteem and self efficacy
• Self help strategies
• Manage risk, respond to suicide
Txt & e-mail brief intervention services
Message board
• Total threads since launch: 770• Total reply posts since launch: 1067
• Every message moderated.
• Safe place to give and receive peer support.
• Suicide or self harm posts rejected.
• Rejected suicide posts followed up.
• Txt risk incidents: 101• Emergency services contacted: 52
• E-mail risk incidents: 8• Emergency services contacted: 6
Risk incidents: Jan 08 – June 09:
Outcomes after txtr/e-mailer located:
Evaluation
• Phoenix Research- Evaluation of Youth Initiative
• January – December 2008
• Text, Email and Website
• On-line Panel and Service Users (18.5% Maori)
How well the service met needs
• 80% of Service Users indicated that the text service met their needs extremely to quite well
• 70-75% of Service Users indicated that the email support services met their needs extremely to quite well
• ‘Because with me, I was at high risk of suicide – they called the police and that got the ball rolling on getting me help’
• ‘I love this site because it is genuinely good, the fact sheets, the self-test, just everything – I have severe depression and finding this place is like gold – I'm serious’
Evaluation Quotes
• ‘Helped me see that I needed to get myself help’
• ‘That what I was experiencing wasn't weird or strange and that I wasn't alone in the way I was feeling - also that there were so many different ways for me to get help, i.e. I have trouble using the telephone, so the message board was great’
Quotes
