Online cultural experiences for mental health in people aged 16–24: a qualitative analysis of multisource data from a randomised controlled trial

Journal article

Objective: To further understand young people’s perceptions of using online arts and culture and how it impacts on mental health. Methods: This qualitative study was embedded in a proof-of-principle randomised controlled trial (RCT) comparing the effectiveness of two different online arts and culture experiences on mental health in young people (aged 16–24 years). The RCT compared the Ashmolean website (Ash) a generic museum website and Ways of Being (WoB), a codesigned stories based web experience. Three sources of data were analysed; focus group transcripts, free text responses and viewpoints. We adopted an interpretive phenomenological approach allowing deductive and inductive hybrid thematic analysis to gain critical insight into how young people make sense of phenomena relating to mental health in a complex context within a critical realist paradigm. Results: In total, 117 free text responses relevant to the interventions were received. The first focus group was attended by seven Ash participants and the second by six WoB participants. A total of 108 separate viewpoints were entered. The main themes identified across sources were of human connection, the content and journey of the online experience, the features, setting and when it was used, positive mental health impacts and neutral/negative effects. Positive mental health impacts were often described in association with human connection in WoB participants. Neutral and negative effects were more commonly described in participants allocated to Ash. Conclusion: Continued development of online arts and culture for diverse populations using participatory and mixed methods to identify potential mechanisms are promising future areas of mental health research. Trial registration number: NCT04663594; Results

Authors: Syed Sheriff, R; Riga, E; O’Dell, B; Chandler, L; Adams, H

• Publication status: Published
• Peer review status: Peer reviewed
• Publisher: BMJ Publishing Group
• Journal: BMJ Open
• Volume: 16
• Issue: 4
• Pages: e105217
• Article number: bmjopen-2025-105217
• Publication date: 2026-04-28
• Acceptance date: 2026-02-09
• DOI: 10.1136/bmjopen-2025-105217
• EISSN: 2044-6055
• ISSN: 2044-6055
• Language: English
• Keywords: Adolescent; Depression & mood disorders; MENTAL HEALTH; Anxiety disorders