Introduction

Owing to increased use of information and communication technologies (ICT), concepts such as health, wellness and participation in life have gained a new and wider meaning. The Internet and mobile devices provide access to virtual opportunities for information seeking, real-time interaction, relationship building and collaborative involvement. This chapter supports research (Zimmerman, 1995; Christensen et al, 2011) suggesting that (community) participation has a positive effect on psychological empowerment. Psychological empowerment is defined as a mechanism that gives individuals greater mastery and control of their lives (Perkins and Zimmerman, 1995).

Participation is defined as taking personal action in issues that concern one's own wellbeing; it also include a social dimension of a striving towards the common good (Anttiroiko, 2003). The concept of participation in this text is very closely related to the concept of social support. Social support has been defined as an exchange of knowledge, emotional or evaluative support. Social support is mediated in social networks and relationships through human interaction (Heaney and Israel, 1997). The online participation described in this chapter includes the mentioned features of social support. The participation is in fact sharing information and knowledge, sharing experiences and offering emotional support.

The aim of this chapter is to give an insight in how participation through ICT and particularly the Internet can and is used for maintaining and promoting mental wellbeing by young people in Finland by providing an overview of recent research and literature describing the current situation in Finland. The focus is on university students; they are a group of young people that have been socialised into using this new technology since the early days of the Internet. Another reason for concentrating on this specific group of young adults is because of the interesting literature and research available.

These Finnish university students have their own national healthcare system: the Finnish Student Health Service (FSHS). This service provides general, mental and oral healthcare for undergraduate students of universities and other institutions of higher education. To ensure quality of service the employees at FSHS continuously carry out research. Research is conducted on topics directly connected to medicine and healthcare and also on related topics such as the students’ mental wellbeing and students’ electronic communication with healthcare professionals (http://www.yths.fi/en).