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e-mental health research & development

e-hub is an initiative of the Centre for Mental Health Research at the Australian National University. e-hub develops and evaluates depression and anxiety based websites that deliver psycho-education, psychological interventions, and clinical and consumer networking. A range of the e-hub’s projects have explored the importance and quality of health information on the Internet, and the use of the Internet for disseminating public health information on depression.

The goals of e-hub are to:

• Investigate and evaluate markers of high quality web information in mental health.
• Investigate the usefulness of these markers for community use of Internet material.
• Develop and evaluate web interventions that reduce symptoms and stigma in the community.
• Evaluate methods such as targeting and tailoring to determine optimal methods for improving mental health outcomes.
• Develop and evaluate web interventions that improve communication amongst researchers, and clinical teams, and provide infrastructure to community and general practice research trials.
• Evaluate models for the integration of web information and interventions into mainstream mental health services.
• Promote and integrate quality health sites internationally.
  

News and Events

e-hub interventions win TWO awards within ONE week!

 

YouthMood received the 2007 Special Focus Award at the 2007 ACT Early Intervention Awards for promoting best practice and and excellence in mental health community service delivery.

A day later MoodGYM received the Yogie Award for outstanding practice in working with young people.

The ACT Early Intervention Awards are a peer to peer award ceremony hosted by Supportlink. They are designed to highlight the significance of early intervention services in the prevention of problems such as suicide and mental health illness, social isolation and preventable family breakdown. The Award was presented to the YouthMood project by the ACT Attorney General, the Hon. Simon Corbell.

The Yogie Awards are a Youth Coalition of the ACT initiative. The Yogie is awarded to recognise, celebrate, promote and reward outstanding practice in working with young people in the ACT and surrounding area. The awards were presented by Katy Gallagher MLA, Deputy Chief Minister, Minister for Children and Young People, Minister for Health, Minister for Women, Minister for Disability and Community Services.

Click here for more information on YouthMood and other MoodGYM-based programs.

 

YouthMood wins Gold at the 2007 Mental Health Services (THEMHS) Conference

 

YouthMood received the 2007 Gold Award for Achievement in Infant, Child and Adolescent Services/Programs at The Mental Health Services (THEMHS) Conference in Melbourne.

YouthMood is a project which aims to evaluate the effectiveness of implementing MoodGYM in schools to prevent depression and increase resilience skills in young people aged 15-16 years.

The THEMHS Achievement Awards program is a peer review process which acknowledges excellence in mental health services. The Gold Award recognises a program's significant contribution to the field of mental health, as well as its effectiveness and high standard of service. The 2007 THEMHS Achievement Awards were presented on Wednesday 5th September 2007, by Senator the Hon. Brett Mason, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for Health and Ageing.

 

World Mental Health Day 2007 - Wednesday 10 October 2007

The Mental Health Council of Australia (MHCA) and Multicultural Mental Health Australia (MMHA) invites you to celebrate World Mental Health Day - Mental Health in a Changing World: The Impact of Culture and Diversity.

Wednesday 10 October 2007
11.00 am – 12.00 pm
National Museum of Australia, Peninsula Room, Canberra.

Click here to download the flier.

*New* e-couch program released for public use

e-couch is the latest online program developed by the e-hub team. e-couch provides information about emotional problems – what causes them, how to prevent them and how to treat them. e-couch also provides a set of evidence-based online interventions designed to equip the user with strategies to improve their mood and emotional state, along with a workbook to track progress and record experiences.

e-couch is available to the public free of charge at ecouch.anu.edu.au.

e-couch has been developed and produced by the e-hub team at the Centre for Mental Health Research. The program has been funded by beyondblue: the national depression initiative, and the National Health and Medical Research Council.

BluePages Team receives the ANU Vice Chancellor's Award

The BluePages Team was awarded the ANU Vice Chancellor's Award for Community Outreach.

The BluePages Depression Information Website is a comprehensive online source of information about depression compiled by the Centre. It provides information about the symptoms of depression and how it is diagnosed, summarises which medical, psychological and alternative treatments work for depression (and which don’t) and contains an extensive list of people, organisations, books, websites, and other resources that may be helpful to people who are depressed.

MoodGYM wins iAward

 

 

MoodGYM was awarded an iAward, in the category of Innovation, at the AIIA iAward, 2004.

The iAwards are the Australian Information Communications Technology (ICT) Industry’s national program honouring the year’s "best of the best" ICT business strategies in categories such as Innovation, Inspiration, Involvement, and International business. The iAwards are supported by media, government and the industry and are presented in conjunction with The Australian Financial Review, with The Honourable Darryl Williams, Minister for Communications, Information Technology and the Arts, as its patron.

BlueMood Trial Completed

In 2003, the Centre’s web interventions (BluePages and MoodGYM) were evaluated for effectiveness through a large randomized controlled trial (the BlueMood trial). We found that both sites were effective in lowering mental health symptoms of anxiety and depression after a six week intervention, and that BluePages results in lowered stigma. These results were published in the British Medical Journal and British Journal of Psychiatry this year. In 2004, we confirmed that these reductions persist at six months. Research on the effectiveness of MoodGYM and its cost effectiveness is completed.

Promoting consumer participation in mental health research: A National Workshop

This National Workshop held by the Depression & Anxiety Consumer Research Unit, was held in order to draft a set of principles to guide active consumer/researcher partnerships for mental health research, bringing together 30 delegates with extensive experience in the areas of mental health research and active consumer participation. Stakeholders shared experiences from consumer, carer, academic, government, CALD, Aboriginal, funding body, NGO and pharmaceutical company perspectives.

At the conclusion of the workshop the BrolgaNet website (available to all interested public) was launched to facilitate an online network of people interested in promoting consumer participation in mental health research.

Click here to download the workshop report in pdf format (880kB)

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