Each year, more than four million young adults (age 18-25 years old) in the U.S. receive psychotropic medication or psychotherapy as treatment for a mental illness. One in every four of these young adults will disengage from mental health treatment before significant symptom remission is achieved. Mental health treatment disengagement may be mitigated by reducing barriers to self-management and enhancing self-management skills. Electronic self-management resource training for mental health (eSMART-MH) is an innovative use of avatars-virtual persons who tailor responses to users-to improve mental health treatment disengagement.
The purpose of this study is to determine whether mental health treatment disengagement may be mitigated by reducing barriers to self-management and enhancing self-management skills.