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.