Examining the complexities of measuring effectiveness of online counselling for young people using routine evaluation data

As mental health services for young people develop, the need for evaluation and audit to justify expenditure follows suit. Counselling is being provided in more and more schools and community settings across the country, and there is an increasing focus on evidence-based funding. Practice-based evidence has an important role to play in fulfilling this requirement, and there are calls for a single outcome measure to be utilised across services. The emerging frontier of online support is receiving steadily greater attention, but as yet it has had little attention with regards to its effectiveness. An existing routine evaluation and outcome measure (Young Person's Clinical Outcome Measures in Routine Evaluation) was incorporated within other routine evaluation systems within an online support service for young people (Kooth). The findings have been examined, with a view to recommending most suitable evaluation tools for this medium. Initial data suggest that the online service, when compared with equivalent face-to-face data, attracts a wide range of needs and levels of distress, with a high proportion of complex needs presented. Such findings may also reflect the complex nature of the support needs for the client group in question. Capturing appropriately rich data using a range of qualitative and quantitative measures that account for the complex online environment and client group needs to be carefully considered.