About us Mō mātou

About the Ministry of Health and the New Zealand health system. 

Regulation & legislation Ngā here me ngā ture

Health providers and products we regulate, and laws we administer.

Strategies & initiatives He rautaki, he tūmahi hou

How we’re working to improve health outcomes for all New Zealanders.

Māori health Hauora Māori

Increasing access to health services, achieving equity and improving outcomes for Māori.

Statistics & research He tatauranga, he rangahau

Data and insights from our health surveys, research and monitoring.

The passage from childhood to adulthood is undeniably complex, with a large number of children in New Zealand unable to make this transition easily, resulting in an unacceptably high rate of adolescent morbidity and a significant proportion of young people suffering from depression and other mental health disorders.

We recognise that no single intervention will address youth mental health issues. The need to build on existing interventions and trial new initiatives for young people in schools, online, in their families and communities and in the health system continues. SPARX is initiative 4 of the Prime Minister’s Youth Mental Health Project (YMHP) that provides a no cost, online and evidenced based e-therapy programme specifically tailored tor young people. The e-therapy programme focuses on the common problems of anxiety and depression.

SPARX is an interactive fantasy game that delivers cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) and can be found on the SPARX website. It is not intended to replace therapy, counselling or medication and can be used alongside other interventions.

This evaluation aimed to assess the effectiveness of the SPARX roll out, evaluate the effectiveness of the service, whether the service reaches the target group and whether there are any opportunities for improvement. A logic model was developed to describe the planned inputs, activities, outputs and outcomes of SPARX. The model’s outcomes align with those of the Prime Minister’s Youth Mental Health Project.

Publishing information

Publication date
Citation
Malatest International. 2016. Evaluation of SPARX. Wellington: Ministry of Health.
ISBN
Online: 978-1-98-850200-7
HP number
6529
Copyright status

Third-party content. Please check the document or email the Web Manager to find out how to obtain permission to re-use content.

© Ministry of Health – Manatū Hauora