Digital solutions to promote adolescent mental health: Opportunities and challenges for research and practice

Bantjes, Jason

doi:10.1371/journal.pmed.1004008

Cited by 6 publications

(4 citation statements)

References 12 publications

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“…The scarcity of published research on this topic reflects the limited focus on adolescent mental health interventions in LMICs, despite increased mobile phone ownership and use in these countries (International Telecommunications Union [ITU], 2022). This also reflects that the field of MMH is a small but growing research area that dramatically increased due to the coronavirus pandemic, which required rapid advances in the use of MMH to deliver and ensure continuity of care (Bantjes, 2022). Nonetheless, the three domains identified provide insight into the perception and usefulness of MMH interventions.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The development and use of adolescent mobile mental health (m-mhealth) interventions in low- and middle-income countries: a scoping review

Madonsela

Ware

Scott

et al. 2023

South African Journal of Psychology

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Adult mental health challenges frequently stem from undiagnosed poor mental health earlier in life. With increasing levels of poor adolescent mental health and insufficient health care resources in low- and middle-income countries, mobile mental health may offer expanded service access. Little is known about mobile mental health interventions for adolescents in low- and middle-income countries. Our aim was to review the literature on mobile mental health intervention, development and use for low- and middle-income country adolescents. We searched APA PsycInfo, Web of Science, Psychiatry online, and Ebscohost databases using keywords and phrases. Screening of the 6953 retrieved articles, generated 6 articles that met the inclusion criteria. Arksey and O’Malley’s adapted framework was followed using rigorous inclusion criteria and screening by two reviewers. Studies showed high heterogeneity. Two studies used short message service text messaging platforms, one used phone call reminders, two used smartphone applications (WhatsApp or game-based), and one study compared different short message service, web-based and smartphone app offerings. Generally, adolescents had a positive perception of mobile mental health interventions. Helpline messages, peer group sessions, access to a counsellor and games set in real-life environments were some of the preferred contents of mobile mental health interventions. Noted barriers include low personal mobile phone ownership, leading to lack of confidentiality, data costs and limited internet access. While adolescents in low- and middle-income countries find mobile mental health interventions acceptable and supportive, challenges remain. Mobile mental health interventions can potentially overcome barriers associated with face-to-face care, such as high cost and stigma. However, more research is needed to overcome these challenges and build the evidence-base in low- and middle-income countries for this field to grow.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The development and use of adolescent mobile mental health (m-mhealth) interventions in low- and middle-income countries: a scoping review

Madonsela

Ware

Scott

et al. 2023

South African Journal of Psychology

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“…Instead, Osman et al suggested that YouTube improve its ranking and recommendation system through giving higher weight to expert reviews of health-related videos and by including their assessment data in the ranking algorithm. Bantjes suggested that AI complement human-centered approaches to the promotion of adolescent mental health through facilitating therapeutic relationships, enhancing connectedness, and performing DMHI functions in combination with interventions provided by therapists [93]. However, to date, there are no scientific studies that have demonstrated AI helping people with mental health care.…”

Section: Future Researchmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Impact of YouTube on Loneliness and Mental Health

Balcombe

Leo

2023

Informatics

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There are positives and negatives of using YouTube in terms of loneliness and mental health. YouTube’s streaming content is an amazing resource, however, there may be bias or errors in its recommendation algorithms. Parasocial relationships can also complicate the impact of YouTube use. Intervention may be necessary when problematic and risky content is associated with unhealthy behaviors and negative impacts on mental health. Children and adolescents are particularly vulnerable. Although YouTube might assist in connecting with peers, there are privacy, safety, and quality issues to consider. This paper is an integrative review of the positive and negative impacts of YouTube with the aim to inform the design and development of a technology-based intervention to improve mental health. The impact of YouTube use on loneliness and mental health was explored by synthesizing a purposive selection (n = 32) of the empirical and theoretical literature. Next, we explored human–computer interaction issues and proposed a concept whereby an independent-of-YouTube algorithmic recommendation system steers users toward verified positive mental health content or promotions.

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“…[1,2] Digital technologies are also a potentially cost-effective way to scale up access to mental healthcare, and there is emerging evidence that app-based interventions might be effective for suicide prevention among adolescents. [38] There is also evidence that some students in SA find digital mental health interventions acceptable and satisfying, [39] suggesting that digital technologies could be an effective way to deliver suicide prevention interventions to SA students, although more research is needed to verify whether these findings are generalisable to large groups of students in different settings. While digital interventions might be appealing (because they offer anonymity, convenience, access and affordability), there are significant problems associated with poor sustained engagement with digital interventions, which may make them unsuitable for use with high-risk groups, such as suicidal students.…”

Section: Researchmentioning

confidence: 99%

Prevalence and correlates of 30-day suicidal ideation and intent: Results of the South African National Student Mental Health Survey

et al. 2023

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Background. Although suicide prevention is recognised as a priority among university students in South Africa (SA), it is unclear whatproportion of students require urgent indicated interventions and what the characteristics are of these students.Objective. To assess the prevalence and sociodemographic correlates of 30-day suicidal ideation, frequency of ideation and self-reported intention to act on ideation in the next year among a national sample of SA university students.Methods. Self-report cross-sectional data were collected online from students (N=28 268) at 17 universities across SA as part of the national student mental health survey. Students reported suicidal ideation in the past 30 days, frequency of ideation and intention to act on ideation in the next year. Data were weighted within institutions by gender and population group, and across the four main types of universities (historically white, historically disadvantaged, technical and distance learning) to correct for response rate discrepancies. Prevalence was estimated with these weighted in the total sample and across types of universities. Poisson regression with robust error variances was used to investigate associations of sociodemographic characteristics with ideation and intention to act on suicidal ideation. Results are reported as relative risks (RRs) with design-based 95% confidence intervals (CIs).Results. Thirty-day prevalence of suicidal ideation was 24.4% (standard error (SE) 0.3), with 2.1% (SE 0.1) and 4.1% (SE 0.1), respectively,reporting suicidal ideation all/almost all the time, or most of the time. A total of 1.5% (SE 0.1) of respondents reported being very likely to act on their suicidal ideation, while 3.9% (SE 0.2) were somewhat likely, 8.7% (SE 0.2) were not very likely and 85.8 (SE 0.5) either reported no suicidal ideation or that they were not at all likely to act on this ideation. Risk of suicidal ideation with high intent in the total sample was elevated among females (RR 1.9, 95% CI 1.3 - 2.7) and gender non-conforming students (RR 4.3, 95% CI 1.4 - 13.0) relative to males, black African students compared with white students (RR 3.6, 95% CI 1.9 - 7.1), students whose parents did not progress to secondary school compared with students whose parents had a university education (RR 1.6, 95% CI 1.0 - 2.5) and sexual minority students compared with heterosexual students (RR 1.9, 95% CI 1.3 - 2.6). Among students with 30-day ideation (controlling for frequency of ideation), only two of these predictors of high intent remained significant: identifying as black African (RR 2.7, 95% CI 1.4 - 5.1), and having parents with less than secondary education (RR 1.5, 95% CI 1.0 - 2.1).Conclusion. Scalable suicide prevention interventions are needed to reach the large number of SA students who report suicidal ideation with intent.

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Digital solutions to promote adolescent mental health: Opportunities and challenges for research and practice

Abstract: Jason Bantjes discusses the accompanying study by Michelle Torok, Jin Han, and colleagues investigating the effects of a self-guided smartphone application on suicidal ideation among young adults.

Cited by 6 publications

References 12 publications

The development and use of adolescent mobile mental health (m-mhealth) interventions in low- and middle-income countries: a scoping review

The development and use of adolescent mobile mental health (m-mhealth) interventions in low- and middle-income countries: a scoping review

The Impact of YouTube on Loneliness and Mental Health

Prevalence and correlates of 30-day suicidal ideation and intent: Results of the South African National Student Mental Health Survey

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