CONTEXT: Although adolescent mental health interventions are widely implemented, little consensus exists about elements comprising successful models.OBJECTIVE: We aimed to identify effective program components of interventions to promote mental health and prevent mental disorders and risk behaviors during adolescence and to match these components across these key health outcomes to inform future multicomponent intervention development.DATA SOURCES: A total of 14 600 records were identified, and 158 studies were included.STUDY SELECTION: Studies included universally delivered psychosocial interventions administered to adolescents ages 10 to 19. We included studies published between 2000 and 2018, using PubMed, Medline, PsycINFO, Scopus, Embase, and Applied Social Sciences Index Abstracts databases. We included randomized controlled, cluster randomized controlled, factorial, and crossover trials. Outcomes included positive mental health, depressive and anxious symptomatology, violence perpetration and bullying, and alcohol and other substance use.DATA EXTRACTION: Data were extracted by 3 researchers who identified core components and relevant outcomes. Interventions were separated by modality; data were analyzed by using a robust variance estimation meta-analysis model, and we estimated a series of singlepredictor meta-regression models using random effects.RESULTS: Universally delivered interventions can improve adolescent mental health and reduce risk behavior. Of 7 components with consistent signals of effectiveness, 3 had significant effects over multiple outcomes (interpersonal skills, emotional regulation, and alcohol and drug education).LIMITATIONS: Most included studies were from high-income settings, limiting the applicability of these findings to low-and middle-income countries. Our sample included only trials.CONCLUSIONS: Three program components emerged as consistently effective across different outcomes, providing a basis for developing future multioutcome intervention programs.

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Introduction As adolescents transition from childhood to adulthood, they experience major physical, social and psychological changes, and are at heightened risk for developing mental health conditions and engaging in health‐related risk behaviours. For adolescents living with HIV (ALHIV), these risks may be even more pronounced. Research shows that this population may face additional mental health challenges related to the biological impact of the disease and its treatment, the psychosocial burdens of living with HIV and HIV‐related social and environmental stressors. Discussion Psychosocial interventions delivered to adolescents can promote positive mental health, prevent mental health problems and strengthen young people’s capacity to navigate challenges and protect themselves from risk. It is likely that these interventions can also benefit at‐risk populations, such as ALHIV, yet there is little research on this. There is an urgent need for more research evaluating the effects of interventions designed to improve the mental health of ALHIV. We highlight four priorities moving forward. These include: generating more evidence about preventive mental health interventions for ALHIV; including mental health outcomes in research on psychosocial interventions for ALHIV; conducting intervention research that is sensitive to differences among ALHIV populations and involving adolescents in intervention design and testing. Conclusions More robust research on promotive and preventive mental health interventions is needed for ALHIV. Programmes should be informed by adolescent priorities and preferences and responsive to the specific needs of these groups.

Background Pregnancy and parenthood are known to be high-risk times for mental health. However, less is known about the mental health of pregnant adolescents or adolescent parents. Despite the substantial literature on the risks associated with adolescent pregnancy, there is limited evidence on best practices for preventing poor mental health in this vulnerable group. This systematic review therefore aimed to identify whether psychosocial interventions can effectively promote positive mental health and prevent mental health conditions in pregnant and parenting adolescents. Methods We used the standardized systematic review methodology based on the process outlined in the World Health Organization’s Handbook for Guidelines Development. This review focused on randomized controlled trials of preventive psychosocial interventions to promote the mental health of pregnant and parenting adolescents, as compared to treatment as usual. We searched PubMed/Medline, PsycINFO, ERIC, EMBASE and ASSIA databases, as well as reference lists of relevant articles, grey literature, and consultation with experts in the field. GRADE was used to assess the quality of evidence. Results We included 17 eligible studies (n = 3245 participants). Interventions had small to moderate, beneficial effects on positive mental health (SMD = 0.35, very low quality evidence), and moderate beneficial effects on school attendance (SMD = 0.64, high quality evidence). There was limited evidence for the effectiveness of psychosocial interventions on mental health disorders including depression and anxiety, substance use, risky sexual and reproductive health behaviors, adherence to antenatal and postnatal care, and parenting skills. There were no available data for outcomes on self-harm and suicide; aggressive, disruptive, and oppositional behaviors; or exposure to intimate partner violence. Only two studies included adolescent fathers. No studies were based in low- or middle-income countries. Conclusion Despite the encouraging findings in terms of effects on positive mental health and school attendance outcomes, there is a critical evidence gap related to the effectiveness of psychosocial interventions for improving mental health, preventing disorders, self-harm, and other risk behaviors among pregnant and parenting adolescents. There is an urgent need to adapt and design new psychosocial interventions that can be pilot-tested and scaled with pregnant adolescents and adolescent parents and their extended networks, particularly in low-income settings.