A cultural experience to support mental health in people aged 16–24 during the COVID-19 pandemic compared to a typical museum website: study protocol of an online randomised controlled trial

Abstract

Background Despite the high prevalence of common mental disorders in adolescents and young adults, and their association with poor health and socio-economic outcomes throughout the lifespan, many young people do not seek or receive help for such disorders. There is growing interest in the community sector in supporting mental health in young people; however, there is little by way of experimental research in this area. During the COVID-19 pandemic and lockdown, we designed an online cultural experience to reduce anxiety and depression and support mental health in people aged 16–24. Methods/design The O-ACE POP (Online Active Community Engagement Proof of Principle) study is a UK-based online randomised controlled trial of an online cultural experience named Ways of Being, involving human centred narratives and viewpoints, compared with a typical museum website (the Ashmolean Museum). We aim to compare efficacy on affect, symptoms of epression and anxiety, flourishing and loneliness as well as investigating potential mechanisms of action. Discussion The COVID-19 pandemic has provided a unique opportunity to design an innovative approach to supporting mental health in young adults. Findings derived from this study will allow us to evaluate the efficacy of this intervention and will inform the design of studies to further refine the resource and test it further. Trial registration ClinicalTrials.gov NCT04663594. Registered on 11 December 2020 (submitted in same form 27 November 2020). Protocol v1.0: 27 November 2020. Date recruitment began: 4 December 2020. Recruitment complete (estimate): February 2021

Online arts and culture for mental health in young people: a qualitative interview study

“…This study demonstrates that young people believed that OAC could be an engaging and efficacious way of supporting mental health. Of note is the importance of representation and equitable access which must be addressed to realise the full public health potential of OAC 51. OAC has the potential to reach the volumes of young people with threshold and subthreshold CMDs who currently do not seek help.…”

A co-produced online cultural experience compared to a typical museum website for mental health in people aged 16–24: A proof-of-principle randomised controlled trial

“…The Trial Steering Committee included three Public and Patient Involvement (PPI) members aged 16–24, and met at planning and pre-recruitment phases and prior to completion. The protocol and SPIRIT checklist for this trial are described in detail elsewhere ( Syed Sheriff et al, 2021b ).…”

“…The ‘intervention phase’ was an aggregate of scores at all time points post-allocation including day 5. The only other time point was at 6 weeks which was included to determine whether early differences in the performance of cognitive tasks predicted changes at 6 weeks ( Syed Sheriff et al, 2021b ). Therefore, intervention phase NA, PA and K10 are reported as the primary outcomes.…”

“…The analyses of the primary outcomes are reported here. Secondary outcomes are described elsewhere ( Syed Sheriff et al, 2021b ) and the analyses included in the Supplementary Files ( Supplementary Material 1 ). The data and code underlying these analyses are available from https://www.glam.ox.ac.uk/oace-project .…”

The Nexus between Cultural Heritage Management and the Mental Health of Urban Communities

“…It is important not to underestimate the role played by cultural institutions, such as museums and art galleries not only in the cultural lives of older citizens [79][80][81] but through their inclusiveness [82] and in their contribution to people's sense of self-worth and even physical health [83,84]. Recent studies suggest that museums and art galleries can also serve as tools to improve the mental health of younger people [85].…”