Purpose

We sought to examine whether underage adolescents displaying symptoms for a mental illness (i.e., an eating disorder) would be willing to obtain parental consent to participate in a study to test the efficacy of an evidence-based mobile mental health intervention targeting teens with eating disorders.

Methods

The participants (n = 366) were 15 to 17 year-old English-speakers who post or follow social media accounts on Instagram that emphasize being thin as important or attractive. The participants were administered a survey through Qualtrics to assess eating disorder pathology, interest in trying an evidence-based mobile mental-health intervention, and comfort level with obtaining parental consent to partake in a research study about such an intervention.

Results

About 85% of participants met clinical or subclinical criteria for an eating disorder; however, only 12% had received a treatment within the past six months. While 83% of participants were interested in trying a mobile health interventions app, only 35% indicated willingness to obtain parental consent to participate in a research study. The primary reasons presented for unwillingness to obtain consent included importance of retaining privacy and feeling that parents lack awareness or understanding about mental health issues.

Conclusions

While barriers exist to obtaining treatment for eating disorders, a mobile intervention app may close some of these gaps. Many underage participants indicated interest in obtaining such treatment, yet only a third were willing to obtain parental consent. Future studies should investigate how to reduce these barriers to obtaining parental consent to facilitate teen access to research and mobile mental health treatment.

中文翻译：

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家长同意：未成年青少年参与移动健康心理健康干预的潜在障碍。

 目的

我们试图研究表现出精神疾病（即饮食失调）症状的未成年青少年是否愿意获得父母同意参加一项研究，以测试针对饮食失调青少年的循证移动心理健康干预措施的有效性。

 方法

参与者 ( n = 366) 是 15 至 17 岁的英语人士，他们在 Instagram 上发布或关注社交媒体账户，强调苗条重要或有吸引力。参与者通过 Qualtrics 进行了一项调查，以评估饮食失调病理学、尝试基于证据的移动心理健康干预措施的兴趣，以及获得父母同意参与有关此类干预的研究的舒适度。

 结果

约 85% 的参与者符合饮食失调的临床或亚临床标准；然而，只有 12% 在过​​去六个月内接受过治疗。虽然 83% 的参与者有兴趣尝试移动健康干预应用程序，但只有 35% 的参与者表示愿意获得家长同意才能参与研究。不愿意获得同意的主要原因包括保留隐私的重要性以及认为父母缺乏对心理健康问题的认识或理解。

 结论

虽然获得饮食失调治疗存在障碍，但移动干预应用程序可能会弥补其中一些差距。许多未成年参与者表示有兴趣获得这种治疗，但只有三分之一愿意获得父母的同意。未来的研究应该调查如何减少这些获得父母同意的障碍，以促进青少年获得研究和移动心理健康治疗。