Julie Prescott

Objectives/Purpose. The online platform can be a beneficial resource for those experiencing mental health issues, having numerous provisions to support mental health with one such resource available being online mental health communities (OMHCs).
Design/Background. This research in progress consists of three studies exploring the online provision of OMHCs, of both user and moderator experiences from one US administrated (but globally utilised) OMHC. The three studies aim to explore user experience, the moderator role and the transition from online to offline support, so that recommendations may be given to the online and offline platform alike. Methods Study 1 was an online questionnaire completed by 128 users of the OMHC. The questionnaire consisted of exploratory questions regarding user experience. Study 2 explores the role of the moderator and the research involves email interviews with 7 OMHC moderators to investigate the positive and negative aspects of the role and the reason behind volunteering. Study 3 explores via online interview how users utilise OMHCs to transition to offline support if they need more support than the online platform can provide.
Results. Study 1 results showed that users gain emotional and informational support from OMHCs and showed interesting insights into the transition from online to offline support as well as the role of the moderator on OMHCs. These insights led to the following 2 studies currently in the data collection phase. Conclusions This research hopes to provide insight into the role online mental health communities can have to support mental health, increasing the potential of online support for mental health.

Aim/Purpose: There is a growing awareness of the mental health difficulties that children and young people (CYP) encounter. Given the acknowledgement that large numbers of CYP will benefit from additional support, there is increased emphasis on creating accessible services. One area of growth in the UK has been the provision of online therapeutic services. Further, in attempting to make CYP services more youth friendly, goal-based outcome measures are commonly integrated into therapeutic work. This study investigates the types of therapeutic goals set by CYP online and considers how they develop.
Design/Methodology: It makes use of a year of practice-based data generated from April 2016 to March 2017 on the Kooth.com service – a web-based platform that offers synchronous and asynchronous counselling, peer-to-peer support and self-help tools. 3403 goals were reported during this period by 1425 CYP and scored from 0-10. The demographic information of the clients using the online service is reflected upon before this information is considered alongside the change that is reported in goal scores.
Ethical Approval: This study received a favourable ethical review at the institution of the third author.
Results/Findings: It is notable that the online service was primarily used by female users during the reporting period (71%), and a majority of the service users were aged 13-16 years (62%).
46.5% of these goals were fully achieved by the cohort, with an average goal movement overall of 6.69.
Conclusions/Implications: The findings contribute to the body of literature that reflect a similar demographic of CYP access online counselling as they do face-to-face counselling. When considering the level achievement of the commonest therapeutic goals, online services can provide an important role in aiding CYP in accessing additional support. Such a view highlights the importance of online services working in conjunction with face-to-face services.

This presentation considers the potential that a combination of Identity Structure Analysis (Weinreich and Saunderson 2003) and mentoring sessions hold for exploring teacher identity. The research argues for a combined approach as a way to augment current approaches to teacher professional development. This research also argues that Identity Structure Analysis (ISA) leads to more targeted mentoring sessions which supports individual transition and ultimately leads to an increase in trainee teacher retention

Funding was obtained from a HEFCE catalyst fund by Drs Cross and Prescott in 2016 to undertake a research project to enhance learning and teaching through technology via a student- led research project. The 18 month project ended in April 2018. This presentation aims to discuss the project, providing detail of the two technology based interventions, a university wide mobile app (uBolt) and a virtual reality (VR) therapeutic game to be used on the Psychology, Psychotherapy and Counselling pathway.
The presentation will discuss the project in terms of students as collaborators and co-creators, as well as the benefits and challenges of undertaking research with students. As well as the PI's of the study, two of the key student researchers will also provide their insights of the research and its process.

This presentation will reflect on, and discuss, a HEFCE Catalyst Fund project to engage students in student-led research to enhance learning and teaching through technology.
The research had four main objectives. Firstly, to engage undergraduate students in an initiative to understand utilisation of technology in learning and teaching. Secondly, facilitate students in the research process to design and develop learning and teaching initiatives. Thirdly, to empower students in the delivery of training for staff. Finally, to employ students in the reverse mentoring of staff to enhance the learning and teaching environment.
The presentation will discuss the research undertaken by the research team, a team that included academic staff and student researchers, in terms of the technological interventions (a university-wide mobile app- uBolt and a VR based resource) that were developed to enhance learning and teaching, as well as the evaluation of the interventions. Both interventions were co-created and designed with, and for, students.
The App was a pilot of a university-wide mobile app (uBolt) aimed to be used by all students across the university. The app included an interactive map and games based on learning and students interacting with each other and the university campus. This mobile app developed by the students was then featured in the development process for university-wide implementation of the Campus M app. The second intervention was a VR therapeutic game for use with the counselling students at the university. Both interventions were designed by the research team, and input was sought from the wider student population at the university. Both resources were also developed by games students at the university. The interventions were then evaluated by the research team and this presentation will discuss and reflect on the whole research process with a particular focus on students as partners and the dynamics of change.

This presentation considers the potential that a combination of Identity Structure Analysis (Weinreich and Saunderson 2003) and mentoring sessions hold for exploring teacher identity. The research argues for a combined approach as a way to augment current approaches to teacher professional development. This research also argues that Identity Structure Analysis (ISA) leads to more targeted mentoring sessions which supports individual transition and ultimately leads to an increase in trainee teacher retention

Objective: Young people are increasingly looking to the Internet for support. One area that has received limited attention to date is the way in which this group uses online forums to support mental health difficulties. This paper therefore reviews the literature that has been conducted in this area with a view to examining the opportunities and challenges that service users associate with such support.
Methods: A systematic review of electronic databases was undertaken to find the empirical research investigating how young people experience using online forums for support around mental health issues. The retrieved papers were reviewed for relevance and assessed for quality before being examined for key themes.
Findings: 21 relevant papers were found. The meta-synthesis identified three themes associated with the opportunities (1) Obtaining emotional and Informational Support, (2) Fostering therapeutic Change, and (3) The practical advantages of the medium, and three themes associated with the challenges (1) Technological difficulties (2) User safety, and (3) Communication problems.
Conclusion: This review concludes that online forums can be incredibly useful places for young people to seek out support for mental health issues. The environment provides unique advantages and disadvantages, with the technology proving to be both a help and hindrance.