# Understanding and Facilitating Mental Health Help-Seeking of Young Adults: A Socio-technical Ecosystem Framework

arXiv: https://arxiv.org/abs/2401.08994 · HTML: https://mlsanity.com/paper/2401.08994/

## Key facts

- Cited by 1 papers in the map (data through 14 Oct 2026).
- First posted on arXiv 17 Jan 2024.

## Built on by (most cited first, 1 of 1)

- [Harnessing LLMs for Automated Video Content Analysis: An Exploratory Workflow of Short Videos on Depression](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2406.19528/) (2024)

## Abstract (arXiv)

Prior research on young adults' mental health help-seeking mostly focuses on one particular resource such as a mobile app or digital platform, paying less attention to their lived experiences interacting with the ecosystem of resources. We conducted in-depth interviews with 18 participants about their help-seeking and non-help-seeking experiences. Guided by Social Ecological Theory, we proposed a Socio-technical Ecosystem Framework for mental health care, consisting of four levels of resources, including technological-, interpersonal-, community-, and societal level resources. Using this framework, we identified two types of support systems for help-seeking, single-resource support system and multi-resource support system. These resources support young adults' help-seeking via three mechanisms, textitcare-giving, textitcare-mediating, and textitcare-outreaching, forming various pathways to care. We then pointed out the barriers to resource use at each level and the general challenges in finding a support system. Our findings contributed to a conceptual framework to categorize mental health care. It also serves as a practical framework to identify challenges in the pathways to care and discover design implications.