Since 2001 ReachOut.com has invited its users to complete an annual online survey to help us understand and listen to what young people want and evaluate the impact of ReachOut.com on:
This year the survey ran from mid June – early August collecting over 1552 responses from an increasingly diverse group of young people aged 14-25:
Within our target age group, 75% of visitors are aged 14-19 and the remaining 25% aged 20-25.
Our results also showed us that young people from culturally diverse backgrounds are attracted to ReachOut.com. Twenty percent of users speak a language other than English at home and 3.7% identify as Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander. The ReachOut.com community maintains a loyal member base, but continues to attract new users, with return visitors making up 47.7% of and the remaining 52.3% as new.
Our survey results tell us that ReachOut.com is engaging an audience of young people in need. This year we introduced the use of a scale called the K10 scale. K10 is a standardised psychometric scale that measures the range of psychological distress in participants. Results showed us that 7 out of 10 respondents fell in the high (19.4%) or very high (51.8%) range of psychological distress. However, only 40% of users reported visiting the site because they were going through a tough time and looking for help. This suggests that ReachOut.com is reaching young people who didn’t even recognise that they need support or intervention.
ReachOut.com helps young people to seek help when they need it. Over 37% of respondents who had visited ReachOut.com during a tough time said that it has helped them quite a bit or a lot to ask a professional for help. ReachOut.com is also having a positive impact on mental health literacy, an important part of personal help seeking and for helping a friend. For those looking for information on a mental health issue, 70% said they learnt where to get help and 68% said they now have a better understanding of the mental health experiences of others after using ReachOut.com.
Additionally, nearly half of all respondents said that ReachOut.com has helped them to “see things in a more balanced way" (43.5%) and “understand how the way you think about things can affect how you feel and behave" (46.3%). This shows us that young people who use ReachOut.com are building helpful problem solving skills and healthy thinking patterns, based on the cognitive behaviour model. But most important of all 61.5% of respondents agreed or strongly agreed that ReachOut.com made them feel like they were not alone.
The positive impact of ReachOut.com wouldn't be possible if young people didn’t trust the site. Seventy five percent of young people agreed or strongly agreed that ReachOut.com was straight up and honest (74.6%) and a site they trusted (74.3%), cementing ReachOut.com as a trustworthy and important site for young people.
Overall, Inspire Foundation is proud to say that 70% of respondents rated the site as very good or excellent.
- help-seeking;
- mental health literacy;
- and social connectedness.
This year the survey ran from mid June – early August collecting over 1552 responses from an increasingly diverse group of young people aged 14-25:
- 23% of our users are male,
- 76% female and
- 1% identifying as transsexual, intersex or other.
Within our target age group, 75% of visitors are aged 14-19 and the remaining 25% aged 20-25.
Our results also showed us that young people from culturally diverse backgrounds are attracted to ReachOut.com. Twenty percent of users speak a language other than English at home and 3.7% identify as Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander. The ReachOut.com community maintains a loyal member base, but continues to attract new users, with return visitors making up 47.7% of and the remaining 52.3% as new.
What do the results tell us?
Our survey results tell us that ReachOut.com is engaging an audience of young people in need. This year we introduced the use of a scale called the K10 scale. K10 is a standardised psychometric scale that measures the range of psychological distress in participants. Results showed us that 7 out of 10 respondents fell in the high (19.4%) or very high (51.8%) range of psychological distress. However, only 40% of users reported visiting the site because they were going through a tough time and looking for help. This suggests that ReachOut.com is reaching young people who didn’t even recognise that they need support or intervention.
ReachOut.com helps young people to seek help when they need it. Over 37% of respondents who had visited ReachOut.com during a tough time said that it has helped them quite a bit or a lot to ask a professional for help. ReachOut.com is also having a positive impact on mental health literacy, an important part of personal help seeking and for helping a friend. For those looking for information on a mental health issue, 70% said they learnt where to get help and 68% said they now have a better understanding of the mental health experiences of others after using ReachOut.com.
Additionally, nearly half of all respondents said that ReachOut.com has helped them to “see things in a more balanced way" (43.5%) and “understand how the way you think about things can affect how you feel and behave" (46.3%). This shows us that young people who use ReachOut.com are building helpful problem solving skills and healthy thinking patterns, based on the cognitive behaviour model. But most important of all 61.5% of respondents agreed or strongly agreed that ReachOut.com made them feel like they were not alone.
The positive impact of ReachOut.com wouldn't be possible if young people didn’t trust the site. Seventy five percent of young people agreed or strongly agreed that ReachOut.com was straight up and honest (74.6%) and a site they trusted (74.3%), cementing ReachOut.com as a trustworthy and important site for young people.
Overall, Inspire Foundation is proud to say that 70% of respondents rated the site as very good or excellent.
