Effects of YouTube Health Videos on Mental Health Literacy in Adolescents and Teachers: Randomized Controlled Trial
Abstract
Background Adolescence is a critical period for mental health development, yet prevalences of mental health problems are high among young people. Enhancing mental health literacy in school settings could be an effective strategy for the promotion of mental well-being and prevention of mental health struggles. One promising approach to achieving this goal involves equipping both students and teachers with accessible multimedia resources—such as YouTube Health videos—to enhance their mental health literacy. Objective The study evaluates the effectiveness of a short educational YouTube Health video for promoting mental health literacy in adolescents and teachers. Methods Two independent samples of 352 adolescents and 502 teachers from Germany were recruited from a large panel, representative of the German population with internet access. Participants of each sample were allocated to an experimental group (176 adolescents and 254 teachers) and a control group (176 adolescents and 248 teachers) through randomization. The experimental group watched a YouTube Health video designed to increase mental health literacy, while the control group watched a video similar in style but on a different topic. Before and after watching the publicly available YouTube Health videos, mental health knowledge was assessed as a primary outcome through topic-specific quizzes and a self-report in a web-based survey. In addition, all participants were asked to rate the educational, visual, and overall…
How strong is the evidence?
Evidence Hub reads this as a randomized trial, done in people. Its evidence level is 2 of 5 (High · randomized trial). Randomized trials of a reasonable size are the strongest single-study design. Reported size: 352 participants or records.
Read the paper
Related studies
- Synthesis, In Vitro and In Silico Molecular Docking Studies of Novel Phthalimide–Pyrimidine Hybrid Analogues to Thalidomide as Potent Antitubercular Agents
- Exploring the inhibitory performance of expired moxifloxacin and norfloxacin on copper corrosion in saline environment
- Molecular investigation of antimicrobial peptides against Helicobacter pylori proteins using a peptide-protein docking approach
- Screening of novel narrow-spectrum benzofuroxan derivatives for the treatment of multidrug-resistant tuberculosis through in silico, in vitro, and in vivo approaches
- Synthesis, Characterization, Anticancer, Antioxidant, and In Silico Evaluation of Semicarbazides and Thiosemicarbazides
- Fast and accurate prediction of drug induced proarrhythmic risk with sex specific cardiac emulators
Go deeper in Evidence Hub
Evidence Hub adds a study data sheet (design, sample size, evidence level, key numbers), an AI summary and a chat grounded in the paper's text.