Abstract:Background: Adolescents often face barriers in seeking mental health support due to stigma, lack of awareness, and limited help-seeking skills. Despite growing mental health needs among secondary school students in Malaysia, many remain reluctant to access available services. Behavioural insights approaches, such as nudging and boosting, may reduce stigma and increase help-seeking intentions cost-effectively. This study applies an integrative behavioural science framework, drawing on the Social Ecological Model (SEM), the COM-B Model, and PRIME Theory, to design and test a multilevel intervention addressing individual, social, and contextual drivers of secondary school students’ help-seeking behaviour. This study aims to evaluate the effectiveness of combined nudging and boosting interventions in improving mental health help-seeking behaviours and related competencies among secondary school students. Methods: A three-arm randomized controlled pilot trial will be conducted in selected Malaysian secondary schools with students aged 13 16. Participants will be randomly allocated to one of three groups: (1) Control – no exposure to behavioural nudges;(2) Basic Nudge – exposure to strategically placed visual and educational posters for four weeks; or (3) Enhanced Nudge -exposure to the same posters plus an additional one-hour interactive skill-building session designed to strengthen mental health communication skills and self-efficacy. Guided by SEM, COM-B, and PRIME Theory, outcomes will be analyzed using a validated self-administered questionnaire (Cronbach’s alpha = 0.89), with descriptive and comparative analyses will be conducted in SPSS. Ethical approval has been obtained from Educational Research Application System by Ministry of Education. Expected Outcomes: Expected to show that behaviourally informed nudges and boosting strategies can significantly improve students’ help-seeking intentions, awareness of mental health resources, and confidence while reducing internal stigma. Findings will generate empirical evidence for scalable, school-based interventions and inform future strategies to strengthen adolescent mental health support systems. Status of Study: Planned but not yet initiated.
Keywords: Mental Health, Adolescents, mental health, help-seeking, barriers, stigma
