Please see the fourth article of the Spring 2026 issue!

http://msrj.chm.msu.edu/wp-content/uploads/2026/08/Online-Resources-in-Depression.pdf

Introduction
Depression is a disease that plagues a high percentage of adults in the United States. Utilization of public online resources as a learning resource for those with depression is a new and upcoming tool. This study examined public online resources which provide information pertaining to the treatment of depression, rating the effectiveness of present resources.

Methods/Results
A YOUTUBE search was conducted to collect videos which could be used as resources to patients diagnosed with depression. Medical students then ranked these videos utilizing the DISCERN criteria, a tool established to determine the quality of patient resources. The rankings for each video were averaged for a variety of categories. These averages were then utilized to determine the overall quality of publicly available videos and to compare different aspects of the videos. The majority of categories were determined to have average ratings placing videos in the “partially met criteria” categories. Videos uploaded directly by physicians scored higher than those uploaded by non-physicians. Videos with greater than one million views performed slightly better than those with fewer views.
PPI Statement: Patients and public were not involved in this research.

Conclusion
There are many barriers to mental health care for those diagnosed with depression. Public online resources may help to eliminate these barriers. Despite this positive outlook, this study ranked the overall quality of the resources as “average”. The inconclusive nature of this study calls for further research to be conducted. Barriers may be erased by online resources, but the effectiveness of online resources is not clear. More time must be granted to physicians to counsel their patients about mental health or more standardized online materials must be offered to patients.