Evaluation of the effectiveness of a youth mobile help-seeking ToolKit

INTERVENTION: This project investigates the effectiveness, acceptability and usability of a newly developed Toolkit "Niggle" app in conjunction with the Kids Helpline (KHL) services treatment as usual (TAU) compared to TAU in young people accessing KHL services. The Toolkit encompasses support and intervention in five steps. Step 1: Users are invited to reflect on their current mental and physical condition and to select up to three problems (called "Niggles" within the app) they are currently dealing with. This step aims to promote self‐reflection and to offer mood‐ and problem‐tracking over time. Step 2: Users are provided with support information (tip sheets, videos, audios‐podcasts, health apps and personal stories from previous KHL clients. The Tipsheets and Health apps are also available on the Kids Helpline website ‐ https://kidshelpline.com.au/ The Podcasts, and Videos are only available through the app. The Personal stories presented in the app have been modified from the version appearing on the website to be more concise and associated with specific issues. Step 3: Upon choosing the sources that are most relevant to their 'niggle', an automated customised Kids Helpline‐specific activities list is proposed allowing users to schedule activities to deal with their 'niggle'. Those activities are only available within the app and not on the Kids Helpline website. They include issue‐specific actions such as "Write a list of our strengths"; "Ask someone you trust how they cope with setbacks"; "Call the Police in an emergency if you or someone is getting hurt"; "Write down a list of people you feel safe around", etc. Step 4: Users are invited to regularly track their activities, as compared to issues/moods logs. Visual feedback provides users with the opportunity to verify which activities are associated with the least amount of issues and the most positive moods. Users are invited to submit their own recovery story aiming to promote reflection and pe CONDITION: 'Anxiety';'Depression';'Distress';'Wellbeing'; ; 'Anxiety' ; 'Depression' ; 'Distress' ; 'Wellbeing' Mental Health ‐ Anxiety Mental Health ‐ Depression Mental Health ‐ Other mental health disorders Mental Health ‐ Studies of normal psychology, cognitive function and behaviour PRIMARY OUTCOME: Anxiety severity, measured using the Generalized Anxiety Disorder scale (GAD‐7)[Baseline, 1 month (primary endpoint), 2 months, 3 months ] Depression symptom severity, measured using the Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ‐9)[Baseline, 1 month (primary endpoint), 2 months, 3 months ] Psychological Distress, measured using the Kessler Psychological Distress Scale (K‐10) [Baseline, 1 month (primary endpoint), 2 months, 3 months ] SECONDARY OUTCOME: Behavioural activation using the 9‐item short form of the Behavioural Activation for Depression Scale (BADS‐SF) [Baseline, 1 month, 2 months, 3 months] General functioning, measures using the Multidimensional Adolescent Functioning Scale (MAFS)[Baseline, 1 month, 2 months, 3 months] Health related quality of life, measured using the 5 level version of EuroQoL (EQ‐5D‐5L)[Baseline, 1 month, 2 months, 3 months] Self‐efficacy using The General Self‐Efficacy Scale (GSE)[Baseline, 1 month, 2 months, 3 months] Situational Coping using the 26‐item Brief (COPE) scale [Baseline, 1 month, 2 months, 3 months] Wellbeing using the brief 14‐item version of the Mental Health Continuum – Short Form (MHC‐SF)[Baseline, 1 month, 2 months, 3 months] INCLUSION CRITERIA: 1. aged 13‐25, 2. accessing Kids Helpline telephone‐ or web‐services for support.