{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,11,3]],"date-time":"2026-11-03T12:35:24Z","timestamp":1793709324624,"version":"4.6.1"},"reference-count":34,"publisher":"Frontiers Media SA","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2026,9,4]],"date-time":"2026-09-04T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1788480000000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"content-domain":{"domain":["frontiersin.org"],"crossmark-restriction":true},"short-container-title":["Front. Psychiatry"],"abstract":"<jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Background<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>Mental health challenges among children and adolescents are increasing globally and in Germany, highlighting the need for accessible, youth-centred, and prevention-oriented approaches. Discovery Colleges (DCs) are recovery-oriented, co-produced educational models that promote mental health literacy, empowerment, and peer learning within non-clinical settings. Although Discovery Colleges have been implemented internationally, little is known about how young people in Germany perceive this approach. This study explored children\u2019s and adolescents\u2019 awareness, perceived relevance, willingness to engage, and preferences regarding Discovery Colleges within the German context.<\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>\n                  <jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Methods<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>A cross-sectional mixed-methods online survey was conducted between January and April 2026 among children and adolescents aged 10\u201318 years. Following predefined data-cleaning procedures, responses with less than 70% questionnaire completion were excluded, resulting in a final analytic sample of 227 participants. The survey assessed familiarity with Discovery Colleges, perceived relevance following a standardised description of the model, willingness to participate, previous experiences with mental health support, sociodemographic characteristics, and open-ended questions exploring perceived facilitators and barriers to participation. Quantitative data were analysed descriptively, while qualitative responses were analysed using reflexive thematic analysis.<\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>\n                  <jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Results<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>Awareness of Discovery Colleges was low, with only 5.9% of participants reporting prior familiarity with the concept. Following a brief standardised description, 64.8% perceived Discovery Colleges as relevant for youth mental health support, and 82.4% expressed willingness to participate if such a programme were available locally. Qualitative findings identified four themes influencing engagement: (1) visibility and youth-centred outreach, (2) social connectedness and peer engagement, (3) accessibility and low-threshold participation, and (4) safe, non-clinical environments.<\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>\n                  <jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Conclusions<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>Despite limited prior awareness, many children and adolescents perceived Discovery Colleges as relevant and reported a willingness to engage with this type of youth-oriented mental health approach. These findings suggest that increasing awareness and ensuring accessible, youth-friendly implementation may support the future introduction of Discovery Colleges within the German mental health system. Given the exploratory design and non-probability sample, the findings should be interpreted cautiously and require confirmation through future implementation and evaluation studies.<\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>","DOI":"10.3389\/fpsyt.2026.1892661","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2026,9,4]],"date-time":"2026-09-04T13:23:09Z","timestamp":1788528189000},"update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3389\/crossmark-policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":1,"title":["Children\u2019s and adolescents\u2019 perceptions of Discovery Colleges in Germany: low awareness but high acceptability"],"prefix":"10.3389","volume":"17","author":[{"given":"Jared","family":"Omundo","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"TUM Health Literacy Unit, Department of Health and Sport Sciences, TUM School of Medicine and Health, Technical University of Munich","place":["Munich, Germany"]},{"name":"Recovery College G\u00fctersloh (RC GT-OWL), LWL-Klinikums G\u00fctersloh","place":["G\u00fctersloh, Germany"]},{"name":"LWL Klinikum G\u00fctersloh","place":["G\u00fctersloh, Germany"]},{"name":"Pflegerische Abteilungsleitung Allgemeinpsychiatrie, Honorar-Professur an der Fachhochschule der Diakonie","place":["Bielefeld, Germany"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Manuel","family":"F\u00f6cker","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, University Hospital M\u00fcnster","place":["M\u00fcnster, Germany"]},{"name":"LWL-Universit\u00e4tsklinik Hamm","place":["Hamm, Germany"]},{"name":"Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Psychotherapy, and Psychosomatics, Ruhr University-Bochum","place":["G\u00fctersloh, Germany"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Simon Alexander","family":"Stiehl","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Medizinische Fakult\u00e4t, Medizinische Hochschule Brandenburg Theodor Fontane","place":["Neuruppin, Germany"]},{"name":"Hochschule Osnabr\u00fcck \u2013 University of Applied Science","place":["Osnabr\u00fcck, Germany"]},{"name":"Recovery College Osnabr\u00fcck (RCO)","place":["Osnabr\u00fcck, Germany"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Shiblu","family":"Miah","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Discovery College Practice, Youth Mental Health, RECOIL \u2013 Flourish in Education","place":["Luton, United Kingdom"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Michael","family":"Schulz","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Recovery College G\u00fctersloh (RC GT-OWL), LWL-Klinikums G\u00fctersloh","place":["G\u00fctersloh, Germany"]},{"name":"LWL Klinikum G\u00fctersloh","place":["G\u00fctersloh, Germany"]},{"name":"Pflegerische Abteilungsleitung Allgemeinpsychiatrie, Honorar-Professur an der Fachhochschule der Diakonie","place":["Bielefeld, Germany"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Orkan","family":"Okan","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"TUM Health Literacy Unit, Department of Health and Sport Sciences, TUM School of Medicine and Health, Technical University of Munich","place":["Munich, Germany"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"1965","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2026,9,4]]},"reference":[{"key":"B1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1016\/S2215-0366(21)00395-3","article-title":"Global, regional, and national burden of 12 mental disorders in 204 countries and territories 1990-2019: A systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2019","volume":"9","year":"2022","journal-title":"Lancet Psychiatry"},{"key":"B2","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"61","DOI":"10.1002\/wps.20938","article-title":"Designing and scaling up integrated youth mental health care","volume":"21","author":"McGorry","year":"2022","journal-title":"World Psychiatry"},{"key":"B3","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"293","DOI":"10.1186\/s12888-020-02659-0","article-title":"What are the barriers, facilitators and interventions targeting help-seeking behaviours for common mental health problems in adolescents? 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