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?

The Lowdown website

Lifeline Aotearoa support services

• SMS Text 5626

• Email team@thelowdown.co.nz

• 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