Becoming Protagonists: Effectiveness of a digital intervention to promote youth participation for mental health in Brazil

Project outline

The Protagonists project aims to assess the effectiveness of a digital intervention, “Cadê o Kauê?”, to equip young people in Brazil with peer support and collective action skills which can be used to promote peers’ mental health and wellbeing. Funded by the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC), it aims to establish a framework for nationwide implementation of the digital tool in schools across Brazil. 

Aimed at 15-17 year olds, the interactive storytelling chatbot (chat-story) is accessed via school desktops and follows a narrative based on finding a missing friend, discovering his mental health struggles, and practising how to provide mental health and wellbeing support. Choices are made from predefined responses and, as the narrative progresses, the player receives guidance to help them develop their skillset. After the chat-story, teachers lead a discussion where students can apply what they’ve learnt to their own school context. 

Protagonists builds on a previous project, Engajadamente, which co-created and established the intervention’s acceptability. Protagonists will refine the chat-story for school use as well as develop supplementary resources for teachers. The project also will assess the effectiveness of “Cadê o Kauê?” through a randomised trial and an arts-based realist evaluation, conducted in state schools across Brazil’s five macro-regions.

The project brings together DSPI and the University of Brasília, in collaboration with Oxford Population Health, four partner universities across Brazil (Federal University of Amazonas, University SENAI-CIMATEC Salvador, Federal University of São Carlos, and Tuiuti University of Paraná) and a creative audiovisual team at Morena Flor Films. Protagonists will strengthen collaboration within Brazil and with international partners, building a collaborative network committed to adolescent voice and mental health. 

  • Gabriela Pavarini, PI and Project Lead (UK), University of Oxford 
  • Professor Sheila Murta, PI and Project Lead (Brazil), University of Brasília 
  • Associate Professor Derrick Bennett, co-I and Statistical Lead (UK), University of Oxford 

Other staff: 

  • Rafa Alves, Young person co-lead, University of Brasília  
  • Clara Faria, Researcher, University of Oxford  
  • Christopher Henking, Postdoctoral Researcher, University of Oxford  

Research partners: 

  • Professor Alex Pessoa, Federal University of São Carlos 
  • Professor Camila de Souza Pereira Guizo, University SENAI-CIMATEC Salvador 
  • Professor Fabiano Koich, Federal University of São Carlos 
  • Professor Marck de Souza Torres, Federal University of Amazonas 
  • Professor Sidnei Priolo Filho, Tuiuti University of Paraná 

Audiovisual director: 

  • Ms Kathia Calil, Morena Flor Films 

“Cadê o Kauê?” is a youth participation intervention that includes an interactive storytelling chatbot and a guided discussion. Users engage with the chat-story on a simulated texting interface, ‘talking’ to characters by choosing from predefined responses. The narrative revolves around finding their missing friend Kauê before a school play, where he plays the lead role. Players discover Kauê’s mental health struggles while practising skills to provide direct support and engage in collective action to improve mental health at school, unlocking "potion cards" (skill cards) in the game. If they fail to unlock a card, they receive guidance emphasising the skill’s importance.   

The story concludes with players offering support to Kauê, and creating a safe space for discussions about mental health and wellbeing in the school. After the experience, players receive a profile (for example an activist or buddy) based on their choices and a PDF toolkit with resources for supporting peers' mental health and wellbeing (for example helplines and guidance to set a school council).  

The guided discussion, conducted by the teacher, explores questions including “What actions can we take to support MHWB in our classroom and school?", and “Who and what resources can we rely on to implement these actions?” 

Watch Engajadamente’s video on the creation of “Cadê o Kauê?” chat-story: Making of: “Cadê o Kauê?”  

The Protagonists project builds on a previous project, Engajadamente, which was carried out in 2021-2023 and involved over 7,400 young people. Relevant publications from the Engajadamente project include:  

  1. Pavarini, G., Murta, S. G., Mendes, J. A. A., Siston, F. R., Souza, R. R. A., Cunha, R. O., Ferreira, J. A., Santos, V. H. L., §Seabra, B. T. R., Talk2U, Singh, I. (2024). Cadê o Kauê? Co-design and acceptability testing of a chat-story to enhance youth participation in mental health promotion in Brazil. The Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry. Early view. 
  2. Mendes, J. A. A., Murta, S. G., Siston, R., J. Cunha, R. O., Seabra, B. T. R., Ferreira, J. A., Souza, R. R. A., Santos, V. H. L., Singh, I., & Pavarini G. Young people’s sense of agency and responsibility towards mental health in Brazil: A reflexive thematic analysis. BMJ Open. 7, e084996.  
  3. Siston, F. R., Murta, S. G., Mendes, J. A. A., Souza, R. R. A., Cunha, R. O., Ferreira, J. A., Santos, V. H. L., §Seabra, B. T. R., Pavarini, G. (2023). A collective autoethnography of co-production in mental health research by academic researchers and young people in Brazil. BMJ Global Health, 8, e012443.  
  4. Pavarini, G., Murta, S. G., Mendes, J. A. A., Siston, F. R., §ouza, R. R. A., Cunha, R. O., Ferreira, J. A., Santos, V. H. L., Seabra, B. T. R., Talk2U, Singh, I. (2023). Your best friend is missing and only you can find him: A chat-story to promote peer support and collective action for mental health. Proceedings of the 22nd Annual ACM Interaction Design and Children Conference, 732-735. 
  5. Pavarini, G., §Booysen, C., Jain, T., Lai, J., Manku, K., Farmer, M., §Lancet Young Leaders for Global Mental Health, Singh, I. (2022). Agents of change for mental health: A survey of young people’s aspirations for participation across five LMICs. Journal of Adolescent Health, 72, S96-S104. 

The Becoming Protagonists website is coming soon.