Lay summary
Early treatment of mental disorders is essential to reduce suffering and to decrease early mortality. Most prevalent among rangatahi aged 16-24, untreated mental disorder affects relationships, education, and career options. The need for treatment far exceeds resources, with rangatahi Māori less likely to be engaged in treatment. Culturally responsive, online therapies are a cost-effective scalable option to meet the high level of need. Using a pragmatic RCT we will test three internet-therapies (iStandard, iCoach, iGroup), which vary according to external support and strengthening of whakawhanaungatanga. We will recruit rangatahi enrolled in tertiary education. Beyond evaluating which therapy works best overall for Māori and non-Māori, we will use machine learning techniques to understand who is most likely to respond to which treatment. Precision treatment enables an individual to be directed to a treatment with the greatest likelihood of success for them, reducing treatment failure and reducing time to remission.