ROdown Blog
Making online forums safe + positive for young people - your views!
Over the past few months, there has been a student- led collaborative project occurring between the Australian College of Applied Psychology and the Inspire Foundation. This project has focused on trying to understand how online forums, like the ROtreat, can be made safe and positive for young people who use them!
Apart from writing a paper on the knowledge gathered, we ran an online questionnaire and online focus group with young people who expressed interest in being involved in this research study. We’d like to send out a massive thank you to the young people who were involved in this project! Your experiences and views on this subject have helped us to get an understanding on what young people think about how online forums like the ROtreat can be safe and positive for all young people.
We have also found from completing this study that young people think that in order to have online forums that are safe and positive for all young people, they need to include the following aspects…
- A space where young people feel safe and secure while online.
- A space that is supportive of young people and the day to day experiences they have.
- A space that is positive and provides skills for young people to use in their day to day lives.
- A space that is moderated and have guidelines that young people know and can follow.
- A space that provides a degree of anonymity for young people so they can be open about experiences.
- A space that allows young people to express themselves and get helpful feedback.
We are hoping that this study is just the beginning of our research into this area, because we feel it is something that Inspire, young people and health care professionals can really benefit from. But… in order for us to continue gaining insight into this area, we need YOUR help!
What do you think Reach Out can do or continue to do, to make the ROtreat forums the safest and most positive online space for young people?
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5 Comments
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rainforest_eyes_87
about 2 years ago
Reply Reportthis web site will help you as to the road of recovery i have been on this web site for a while an hope it will help an assist you in what you need an want out of it i have been like this my whole life an finally realised that i need to wake up an do some thing bout it so i did an have an now im 100% better not fixed hahaha i will never be but i will defeat this as you all will one day
cheers stacy
lilmbb
over 2 years ago
Reply Reporthi my name mel and i just started and i have alot of problems but i think this could help well i hope so
anna
over 2 years ago
Reply Reportthanks so much Rebecca + ACAP for conducting this important research and to everyone who's participated - it is extremely valuable for us to help us understand what our online forums should look like. :)
Ophelia.L
over 2 years ago
Reply ReportMe to. I want to thank the person behind it all ^^ .... cant wait to see the outlook of it.
Rebecca
over 2 years ago
Reply ReportI personally would like to thank everyone who was involved in this project. You have made it all such a valuable experience and something that Inspire can use to make their programs the BEST ever for young people. =) So thank you!
Rebecca