Inspire Ireland Insights Report 2012

October 24th, 2012
The Inspire Ireland Insights Report 2012, examining attitudes and behaviour related to youth mental health and online support, was launched today by Mr Jerry Buttimer, T.D., Chairman of the Oireachtas Health Committee.

Three quarters (75%) of those surveyed indicating that they are dealing with moderate or severe psychological distress. The report explores the increasingly critical role that online resources have in supporting young people when they go through tough times
Findings were based on the annual user-profile survey of visitors to our flagship programme, ReachOut.com together with a sentiment analysis of all commentary on the site from June 2011 – June 2012.

Other key findings revealed in the Inspire Ireland Insights report include:
  • Respondents reported being more confident in their ability to help a friend than to access help, support or information for themselves.
  • A range of environmental factors were associated with depression in comments to ReachOut.com with isolation, strain on relationships and money worries most commonly cited.
  • Visitors experiencing anxiety (16%), revealed that their problems were with generalised anxiety (28%), panic attacks (28%) and social anxiety (16%).
  • January was the busiest month for visits to ReachOut.com, with Mondays and Tuesdays seeing a peak in visitors, and lower numbers on Saturdays.

Launching the report, Deputy Buttimer commented, “It is imperative that we understand how young people going through tough times use the Internet for information and advice. These insights provide us with a window into young people’s behaviour, and we need to use this information to continue to reach out in safe and meaningful ways to those who need help and support”

Demonstrating that people are becoming more reliant on online support, 81% of respondents to the ReachOut.com user-profile survey stated that they would be unlikely to call a helpline if they were going through a tough time. 68% said they would be more inclined to use online resources such as ReachOut.com. This is reflected in visitor analysis of the site, which shows an increase of 10% in traffic based on the same period last year.

Download Inspire Ireland Insights Report 2012 in .pdf 3.5 MB.

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