Content area
Adolescents and young adults across Europe face growing mental health challenges, yet many do not seek professional help. Online counselling chat services (OCCS) offer anonymous, accessible, and youth-friendly support, but their varied aims, formats, and resources complicate evaluation and integration into formal care systems. This study aimed to identify shared priorities for the development, evaluation, and implementation of OCCS for youth. Eight focus groups were conducted with 38 stakeholders—including researchers, counsellors, and service coordinators—from eight European countries. Through qualitative content analysis, six key thematic domains emerged: usability and engagement, service quality and effectiveness, infrastructure and integration, sustainability, ethical considerations, and future visions. Participants highlighted OCCS as valuable tools for fostering emotional safety, trust, and accessibility, while also noting persistent challenges such as limited funding, fragile infrastructure, and ethical tensions around anonymity and safeguarding. Crucially, the need for flexible evaluation frameworks that reflect service diversity and for stronger cross-model collaboration was emphasized. These findings provide a strategic foundation for advancing inclusive, sustainable, and youth-centered digital mental health support across Europe.
Details
Data Use;
Child Health;
Young Adults;
Adolescents;
Stakeholders;
Informed Consent;
Language Minorities;
Best Practices;
Usability;
Mental Health;
Program Evaluation;
Professional Services;
Developmental Tasks;
Synchronous Communication;
School Policy;
Sustainability;
Evidence Based Practice;
User Needs (Information);
Cost Effectiveness;
Referral;
Barriers;
Underachievement;
Resource Allocation;
Youth
; Denayer Elke 1
; Cabello, Maria 2
; Higuera-Lozano Irati 2
; Pitkänen Tuuli 3
; Felvinczi Katalin 4
; Kaló Zsuzsa 4
; Soininvaara Siiri 3
; Goossens Lien 5
1 Department of Experimental Clinical and Health Psychology, Faculty of Psychology and Educational Sciences, Ghent University, 9000 Gent, Belgium
2 Department of Psychiatry, Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, 28029 Madrid, Spain, Instituto de Salud Carlos III, Centro de Investigación Biomédica en Red de Salud Mental (CIBERSAM), 28029 Madrid, Spain
3 Finnish Youth Research Society, 00520 Helsinki, Finland
4 Institute of Psychology, ELTE Eötvös Lóránd University, 1064 Budapest, Hungary
5 Department of Developmental, Personality and Social Psychology, Faculty of Psychology and Educational Sciences, Ghent University, 9000 Gent, Belgium