Mental health literacy (MHL) refers to “understanding how to obtain and maintain positive mental health; understanding mental illnesses and their treatments; decreasing stigma related to mental illnesses; and enhancing help-seeking efficacy (knowing when and where to seek help and developing competencies designed to improve one’s mental health care and self-management capabilities)” [12]. MHL has been identified as a foundational component in mental health promotion and mental illness prevention [12]. Improved mental health education not only enables an individual to recognize changes in their mental health and well-being, but also empowers them to respond appropriately [13,14]. Given that MHL is context specific, it is important for resources to be tailored appropriately to the target population (ie, students) and the postsecondary setting [14]. The learn section of the Network facilitates access to free and evidence-based mental health education. Education is provided in an interactive, accessible, and aesthetically appealing format. Some features in this section include: a series of web-based mental health education modules, created by Network volunteers and validated by subject matter experts; a curated library of informational and educational TedTalks; a library of free, web-based mental health courses; and a library of detailed toolkits, providing guidance on topics including financial literacy, relationship management, and an introduction to cognitive-behavioral therapy techniques.

The development of strong social support networks is a key predictor of positive mental health outcomes and overall well-being across the course of life, but particularly during adolescence and early adulthood [15,16]. The majority of Canada’s postsecondary students are “emerging adults,” defined as ages between 18 and 25 years [16]. Students navigate a number of major transitions during this time, including the transition to a postsecondary setting, integration into a new social environment, and increased autonomy and responsibility. A lack of social support when faced with these adjustments can lead to social isolation, loneliness, and homesickness [17]. In fact, many students struggle to form new, meaningful friendships at university or college and can find it difficult to maintain pre-existing relationships, such as those with their parents or childhood friends [18,19]. Together, the breakdown of previous social ties and difficulty finding a new social support network at school can result in mental health deterioration [20]. Social support has also been found to be a protective factor against student burnout [21]. Burnout is common in students in academic settings and is linked to psychological distress and perceived stress [22,23].

The connect section of the Network encourages students to develop healthy social support networks by providing access to resources designed to encourage peer connection. Some features in this section include: a clubs portal, which provides single-click access to student club listings for every university and college across Canada; the Student Mental Health Network podcast, featuring interviews with subject matter experts and students on a variety of topics relevant to student mental health, including sharing lived experiences; and a library of web-based forums designed to foster peer connection.

Commonly perceived barriers to help seeking for mental health-related problems among students include a preference for self-management [24], a lack of time [24,25], perceived stigma [26-28], and a lack of awareness around availability of resources [27]. Structural barriers also exist; students are sometimes surprised to learn of the mental health–related services and supports available to them through their institution and frequently report not knowing where to physically access them [29]. This is particularly evident on sprawling campuses, where health supports are split across several different buildings rather than in a centralized location [29]. Additionally, some students are predisposed to structural barriers as a result of socioeconomic status, race or ethnicity, or gender [30]. Increasing awareness of available services and supports both on and off campus, as well as educating students about aligning their level of mental health need with the level of mental health support sought, is essential to supporting the mental health and well-being of the postsecondary population [30].

Rather than provide services, the goal of the access pillar of the Network is to improve students’ awareness of existing resources and services available to them, as well as to improve education regarding appropriate levels of help seeking. These resources include: (1) a mental health resource bank, which includes one-click access to Student Wellness Services websites for every university and college across Canada, as well as a library of community mental health resources (both in person and web-based) at the provincial and national levels; (2) a library of evidence-based and physician recommended mental health mobile apps; (3) an interactive mental health services map detailing locations of mental health support on Canadian campuses across the country; and (4) a bank of stress management resources tailored specifically to postsecondary students based on the stressors measured by the Postsecondary Student Stressors Index [31].

Data for the process evaluation phase of this project will be drawn from 2 sources: (1) Google Analytics and (2) cognitive interviews (Table 1). To collect information regarding the reach of the Network in terms of website engagement and user experience, we will analyze website metrics collected through Google Analytics. These metrics include total number of users, average number of users (weekly, monthly, and annually), average engagement time (time spent on each component of the website), user “stickiness” (average length of visits), page views, event counts (clicks and file downloads), and user region.

We will use individual cognitive interviews employing a “think aloud” technique [34] to further evaluate the user experience and highlight gaps in content. Participants will be asked to screen share over Zoom as they navigate through the Network website and talk us through their navigation, identifying content-related issues or preferences as well as any navigational challenges. The interviews will include questions related to sociodemographic characteristics, important website attributes, and perceived acceptability and feasibility (Table 1). Collecting this additional in-depth qualitative data on website attributes and navigation will augment the quantitative data collected through Google Analytics and allow us to identify gaps and areas for improvement to ensure the best possible user experience.

Data for the impact assessment evaluation of the Network will be drawn from 2 sources: (1) web-based surveys and (2) interviews (individual and group) (Table 2).

The impact assessment survey will include questions related to sociodemographic information (eg, age, gender, ethnicity, year of study, level of study, area of study, and estimated grade point average) and important website attributes (eg, appearance, content, interactivity, inclusivity or representation, and accessibility). However, the survey will also include several validated instruments designed to evaluate change in each of the outcomes of interest (eg, scales evaluating mental health literacy, perceived social support, and help-seeking behaviors). The majority of the survey will consist of closed-ended, quantitative questions, with a few open-ended, qualitative response options. More in-depth descriptions of each of the selected measures and their associated psychometric properties can be found in Multimedia Appendix 2.

Web-based interviews will be held in both individual and focus group formats, depending on recruitment. A semistructured interview guide will be used to assess students’ perspectives on changes in the outcomes of interest as well individual understandings of mechanisms that may have contributed to the change (eg, improved mental health literacy due to completion of Network modules). Interviews will be used to evaluate students’ experiences engaging with the website, as well as their perceptions of potential mechanisms through which they observed change in their mental health education, connections with members of their social support network, and help-seeking attitudes and behaviors.

Canadian postsecondary students who have engaged with the Network are the target population for the proposed evaluation. Students attending any type of postsecondary institution (ie, college, university, etc) will be eligible to participate. Participants will be recruited through 3 possible avenues: (1) directly from the Network website through a posted call for participants; (2) through the Network’s social media channels; or (3) through a snowball sampling method. Network contributors will communicate the opportunity to become involved in the evaluation study through word-of-mouth as the first point of contact. To avoid bias, contributors themselves will not be eligible to complete the impact assessment survey. Participants who complete the survey will have the opportunity to refer 5 other students to complete it in exchange for 1 entry into our raffle draw per completed survey submitted by a referral.

The process evaluation, recruitment, and data collection period will take place between May 2022 and May 2023, allowing for a formative assessment of the first year of operation. A “rolling” recruitment approach (Figure 1) will be used for the impact assessment, allowing participants to complete the survey at any time within the data collection period of September 2023 to September 2024. This approach will allow for continued data collection as new users engage with the Network over time. Rolling recruitment approaches have been shown to reduce recruitment delays and improve statistical power by minimizing the effects of loss to follow-up [44]. Students may participate in process evaluation, impact evaluation, or both.

The appropriate sample size for the process evaluation interviews will be determined by the length of time it takes to reach saturation. For the impact assessment survey, we will aim to obtain a total sample size of 10,000 respondents. Statistics Canada data for the latest academic year (2020-2021) indicates that a total of 2.2 million students are enrolled in a postsecondary program [44]. Our goal will be to obtain responses from students across Canada, with relative contributions by region (Western ~30%, Atlantic ~5%, and Central Canada ~65%) in order to obtain a sample that is generalizable to the broader Canadian postsecondary population. We determined the relative contributions by region using Statistics Canada’s Postsecondary Student Education Dashboard [35].

Google Analytics data will be continually collected from the website over the lifetime of the Network for program monitoring purposes. Cognitive interviews will be conducted, recorded, and transcribed through Zoom [36]. Participants will be compensated for their participation in a cognitive interview with a US $14.97 electronic gift card to Amazon.

Web-based surveys will be administered through Qualtrics survey software [37]. A letter of information (LOI) for the evaluation will appear as the first page of the survey, communicating the purpose of the evaluation, survey content, incentives to participate, process for withdrawing submitted responses, data deidentification and confidentiality, and consent for use of data in future analyses. After reviewing the LOI, participants will indicate their informed consent before being granted access to the survey questions. The only identifying information on the survey will be students’ institutional email addresses used to link their responses across surveys. Emails will be permanently deleted and replaced with numeric participant numbers at the end of the data collection period (September 2024), effectively deidentifying data. The impact assessment survey will consist of approximately 30 close-ended questions and is expected to take around 30 minutes to complete. Following the submission of their first survey, participants will be invited to submit a brief follow-up every 2 months, enabling us to track their responses over time. Participants who “miss” a follow-up will continue to be invited to complete a survey every 2 months throughout the data collection period, unless they choose to opt out of receiving additional surveys. Data will be linked between survey iterations wherever possible.

Participants will be compensated for their submission of each survey with an entry into a prize draw for a chance to win 1 of several electronic gift cards. They will also be provided with an additional entry into the raffle for every individual they refer who completes the survey, per the snowball sampling strategy outlined above. Prize draws will be completed at the end of each academic term.

At the end of the survey, participants will be asked whether they would be interested in participating in an interview to further discuss their engagement with the Network. Participants who express interest will be contacted by email to indicate their preference for either a one-on-one interview or a focus group interview, depending on recruitment numbers. We will attempt to place students from the same region in focus groups together to encourage participants to draw on common experiences and promote idea sharing. Participants will be provided with a letter of information and asked to verbally consent to keeping discussions confidential as well as to interviews being recorded and transcribed. Individual interviews will be 1-hour in length, while the length of focus group interviews will depend on the number of participants included. All interviews will be facilitated over Zoom to accommodate collaboration with participants across Canada. Participants will be compensated for their participation in interviews with a US $20 electronic gift card to either Amazon or Starbucks.

The risk associated with the proposed evaluation is low. However, to mitigate any feelings of elevated stress or emotional distress participants may feel after completing a survey, an interview, or both, we will refer participants to the access section of the Network which includes contact information for campus Student Wellness Services across the country as well as other evidence-based resources.

Quantitative data and website metrics collected through Google Analytics will be analyzed through the use of descriptive statistics (eg, frequencies, measures of central tendency, and dispersion) using R statistical software [38]. Cognitive interview data will be analyzed through the use of the problem codes displayed in Table 3, which were adapted from those proposed for use in the evaluation of new survey tools [39,40]. Following each interview, corrective action will be taken to assess the identified problems, ensuring that each interview provides maximum value to the improvement of the Network. In the event that a new issue arises that is not captured by existing problem codes, a new code will be added to the list for use in subsequent interviews. After problem codes have been applied, interview transcripts will also be coded using a thematic analysis framework [41,42]. A total of 2 research assistants will independently review interview data and generate initial codes, subsequently meeting to share interpretations and develop a codebook. A third researcher will be available to break ties where disagreements arise. Research assistants will then return to the data to generate initial themes and categories.

Both descriptive (eg, frequencies, measures of central tendency, and dispersion) and inferential statistics will be calculated for quantitative data collected through the impact assessment survey using R statistical software. We will explore (1) relationships between sociodemographic variables and outcomes of interest (ie, mental health literacy, perceived social support, and help seeking), (2) the degree of change in outcomes of interest over time, and (3) the relationship between degree of engagement with the Network and degree of change observed in outcomes of interest. Trend analyses examining changes in stress, mental health, and the primary outcomes of interest over time will be conducted once enough data has been collected to facilitate these analyses.

Transcripts derived from individual and focus group interviews will be coded in NVivo [43] using a thematic analysis framework [42] using the approach described above. Qualitative interview data will be triangulated with participants’ quantitative survey data, with qualitative data used to provide more context and facilitate a more in-depth understanding of the user experience and the mechanisms of change in outcomes of interest.