“the right door that I'd been looking for”: A Qualitative Thematic Analysis of Community members’ perceptions of a resource-rich well-being website during the COVID-19 pandemic. (Preprint)

Abstract

To address needs for emotional well-being resources for Californians during the COVID-19 pandemic, the Together for Wellness/Juntos por Nuestro Bienestar (T4W/Juntos) website was developed in collaboration with multiple community partners across California, funded by the California Health Care Services Behavioral Health Division’s federal emergency response.

This qualitative study was designed to explore and describe perspectives of participants affiliated with California organizations on the T4W/Juntos website, understand their needs for online emotional health resources, and inform iterative website development.

After giving informed consent and reviewing T4W/Juntos, telephone interviews were conducted with 29 participants (21 in English, 9 in Spanish) recruited by partnering community agencies (October 2021- February 2022). A six-phase thematic analysis was conducted, enhanced by use of Grounded Theory analytic techniques. Investigators wrote reflexive memos and did line-by-line coding of 12 transcripts. Comparative analyses led to identification of 15 overarching codes. Then, Atlas.ti Web software was used to mark all 29 transcripts with these codes. After examining data grouped by codes, comparative analyses led to identifying main themes, each with a Central Organizing Concept.

Four main themes include: 1) Having to change my coping due to the pandemic; 2) Confronting a context of shifting perceptions of mental health stigma among diverse groups; 3) “Feels like home”: Experiencing a sense of inclusivity and belonging in T4W/Juntos; and 4) “It’s a one-stop-shop”: Judging T4W/Juntos to be a desirable and useful website.

Unique features and diverse resources, including multiple languages, made the T4W/Juntos website a valuable resource, potentially informing dissemination, and future website development.