Reducing Depression Self-stigma and Increasing Treatment Seeking Intentions Among Youth

In a randomized control trial (RCT) with pre-, post-intervention, and 30-day follow-up assessments, we aim to 1) test the efficacy of brief social video interventions, varying protagonist race/ethnicity, as compared to vignette control in reducing self-stigma and increasing treatment-seeking intentions and behavior among 1600 Prolific users ages 18-25 with depressive symptoms (PHQ-9≥ 5), and 2) explore whether matching to protagonist race/ethnicity increases intervention efficacy. We hypothesize that 1) Brief social contact-based video interventions will reduce self-stigma towards depression and increase treatment-seeking intentions and behavior compared to vignette control, and 2) The participants whose race/ethnicity match the protagonist will have greater changes in self-stigma and treatment-seeking than participants with unmatched protagonists, i.e., matching moderates the intervention's effects.