Alison Hui|Paul Wong|King?Wa Fu
Evaluation of an Online Campaign for Promoting Help-Seeking Attitudes for Depression Using a Facebook Advertisement: An Online Randomized Controlled Experiment
University of Hong Kong|University of Hong Kong|University of Hong Kong
depressionawareness campaign delivered internet recommended public health approach would enhance mental health literacy encourage helpseeking attitudes however outcomes campaign remain understudiedthe main aim study evaluate effectiveness online depression awareness campaign informed theory planned behavior encourage helpseeking attitudes depression enhance mental health literacy hong kong second aim examine clickthrough behaviors varying affective facial expressions people facebook advertisementspotential participants recruited facebook advertisements using either happy sad face illustration volunteer participants registered study clicking advertisement invited leave personal email addresses receive educational content depression participants randomly assigned two groups campaign control four consecutive week period received either campaign material official information developed hospital authority hong kong pretests posttests conducted campaign measure differences helpseeking attitudes mental health literacy among campaign control groupsof 199 participants registered completed pretest 116 55 campaign 62 control completed campaign posttest posttest found significant changes helpseeking attitudes campaign control groups campaign group participants demonstrated statistically significant improvement mental health literacy p031 higher willingness access additional information p001 control group moreover happy face facebook advertisement attracted clickthroughs users website sad face advertisement p03the present study provides evidence online campaign enhance peoples mental health literacy also demonstrates practicality effectiveness online depression awareness campaign using facebookbased recruitment strategy distribution educational materials emails important future studies take advantage popularity online social media conduct evaluative research mental health promotion campaigns