With young people accessing online mental health forums in unprecedented numbers, a new moderation tool is now available to help ensure they receive timely and effective help, when they need it.
Moderator Assistant – a collaboration between the Positive Computing Lab at the University of Sydney and ReachOut Australia with support from the Young and Well CRC – introduces new immediate triage methods that can take the pressure off busy forum moderators.
It uses natural language processing techniques to highlight key information and automatically classify and prioritise high-risk posts for moderators, driving faster response times for people in great need. Additionally, a behind-the-scenes chat function allows moderators to collaborate on appropriate responses.
The new tool was developed with forum moderators, who highlighted the need to efficiently and effectively respond to messages, while also ensuring accuracy and the ability to utilise their valuable life experiences to create highly targeted and tailored support.
Providing timely and professional help in online communities can be time-consuming and challenging, yet research shows it’s an important and favoured avenue by many young people in seeking help for mental health issues.
Associate Professor Jane Burns, CEO of the Young and Well Cooperative Research Centre, said that connecting with peers and professionals online, and searching for information through websites and forums, play an important part in the lives of today’s young people.
'Our research shows that 44% of young people aged 16 to 25 use the internet to find health information monthly; and 43% have used the internet specifically to find information on mental health, alcohol or substance use problems, of which almost 99% found the information somewhat or very helpful.
'It is important to provide safe, moderated online communities­ – such as ReachOut.com – for people to seek help, and Moderator Assistant will support the incredible people working hard to moderate these sites to provide timely, top quality help to these young people in need.
'Moderator Assistant cements Australia’s place as a world-leader in online mental health service provision,' Associate Professor Burns said.
Lead researcher on the project, Professor Rafael Calvo at the University of Sydney, said 'We wanted to use machine learning and natural language techniques in a way that helped not only improve productivity around supporting users' mental health, but also helped moderators feel connected and more valued.'
ReachOut Australia CEO Jono Nicholas said 'Peer Support Forums are a vital part of ReachOut.com. By playing a triage role on our forums, Moderator Assistant gives peer moderators more time to consider the unique situation of the young person and to work together to provide a more personal, empathetic response.'
One of ReachOut’s peer moderators, a 22-year-old from Melbourne known on the forum as Safari93, said Moderator Assistant makes moderation easier: 'Before the triage tool, it was much harder to find posts that needed responding to quickly, and they'd sometimes get buried under newer posts, so having the triage helps keep track of more urgent posts and also of posts that have been managed by another moderator.
'The classifiers help us quickly see what the key issues are and what needs to be taken into consideration when replying. We are also able to highlight when the classifier did not get it quite right, and the system learns from that and gets better at finding problem posts,' added Peer Moderator Safari93.
To access information about Moderator Assistant visit http://moderatorassistant.poscomp.org.
– ENDS –
ReachOut is Australia’s leading online mental health organisation for young people, providing practical support to help them get through everything from everyday issues to tough times. Since 1998, ReachOut has worked alongside young people to deliver online tools that address youth mental health and reduce youth suicide. Available anytime and pretty much anywhere, ReachOut.com is accessed by 110,000 Australians each month. That’s more than 1.31 million people each year.
The Young and Well Cooperative Research Centre is an Australia-based, international research centre that unites young people with researchers, practitioners, innovators and policy-makers from over 70 partner organisations. Together, we explore the role of technology in young people’s lives, and how it can be used to improve the mental health and wellbeing of young people aged 12 to 25. The Young and Well CRC is established under the Australian Government’s Cooperative Research Centres Program.
Doug Millen
Marketing & Communications Coordinator
ReachOut Australia
0425 865 851
doug@reachout.com
Zoe Stephenson
Communications Coordinator
Young and Well CRC
03 9937 1334
zoe@yawcrc.org.au
Moderator Assistant – a collaboration between the Positive Computing Lab at the University of Sydney and ReachOut Australia with support from the Young and Well CRC – introduces new immediate triage methods that can take the pressure off busy forum moderators.
It uses natural language processing techniques to highlight key information and automatically classify and prioritise high-risk posts for moderators, driving faster response times for people in great need. Additionally, a behind-the-scenes chat function allows moderators to collaborate on appropriate responses.
The new tool was developed with forum moderators, who highlighted the need to efficiently and effectively respond to messages, while also ensuring accuracy and the ability to utilise their valuable life experiences to create highly targeted and tailored support.
Providing timely and professional help in online communities can be time-consuming and challenging, yet research shows it’s an important and favoured avenue by many young people in seeking help for mental health issues.
Associate Professor Jane Burns, CEO of the Young and Well Cooperative Research Centre, said that connecting with peers and professionals online, and searching for information through websites and forums, play an important part in the lives of today’s young people.
'Our research shows that 44% of young people aged 16 to 25 use the internet to find health information monthly; and 43% have used the internet specifically to find information on mental health, alcohol or substance use problems, of which almost 99% found the information somewhat or very helpful.
'It is important to provide safe, moderated online communities­ – such as ReachOut.com – for people to seek help, and Moderator Assistant will support the incredible people working hard to moderate these sites to provide timely, top quality help to these young people in need.
'Moderator Assistant cements Australia’s place as a world-leader in online mental health service provision,' Associate Professor Burns said.
Lead researcher on the project, Professor Rafael Calvo at the University of Sydney, said 'We wanted to use machine learning and natural language techniques in a way that helped not only improve productivity around supporting users' mental health, but also helped moderators feel connected and more valued.'
ReachOut Australia CEO Jono Nicholas said 'Peer Support Forums are a vital part of ReachOut.com. By playing a triage role on our forums, Moderator Assistant gives peer moderators more time to consider the unique situation of the young person and to work together to provide a more personal, empathetic response.'
One of ReachOut’s peer moderators, a 22-year-old from Melbourne known on the forum as Safari93, said Moderator Assistant makes moderation easier: 'Before the triage tool, it was much harder to find posts that needed responding to quickly, and they'd sometimes get buried under newer posts, so having the triage helps keep track of more urgent posts and also of posts that have been managed by another moderator.
'The classifiers help us quickly see what the key issues are and what needs to be taken into consideration when replying. We are also able to highlight when the classifier did not get it quite right, and the system learns from that and gets better at finding problem posts,' added Peer Moderator Safari93.
To access information about Moderator Assistant visit http://moderatorassistant.poscomp.org.
– ENDS –
About ReachOut Australia
ReachOut is Australia’s leading online mental health organisation for young people, providing practical support to help them get through everything from everyday issues to tough times. Since 1998, ReachOut has worked alongside young people to deliver online tools that address youth mental health and reduce youth suicide. Available anytime and pretty much anywhere, ReachOut.com is accessed by 110,000 Australians each month. That’s more than 1.31 million people each year.
About the Young and Well CRC
The Young and Well Cooperative Research Centre is an Australia-based, international research centre that unites young people with researchers, practitioners, innovators and policy-makers from over 70 partner organisations. Together, we explore the role of technology in young people’s lives, and how it can be used to improve the mental health and wellbeing of young people aged 12 to 25. The Young and Well CRC is established under the Australian Government’s Cooperative Research Centres Program.
Media enquiries
Doug Millen
Marketing & Communications Coordinator
ReachOut Australia
0425 865 851
doug@reachout.com
Zoe Stephenson
Communications Coordinator
Young and Well CRC
03 9937 1334
zoe@yawcrc.org.au
