Editorial Perspective: A plea for the sustained implementation of digital interventions for young people with mental health problems in the light of the COVID‐19 pandemic

Abstract

The coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic and the consequent global lockdown posed a particular challenge for youths with mental health problems. Crucial interference with their everyday lives likely increased psychological distress while accessibility of conventional mental health care was limited. Ongoing online trials offer a unique opportunity to analyse mental health status and help‐seeking behaviour of adolescents during the pandemic. The ProHEAD‐online trial aims at improving help‐seeking behaviour of children and adolescents with significant psychological impairment. From January to May 2020, 1,042 students had access to the ProHEAD‐online platform providing information on mental illness, monitoring, peer support and professional counselling. In the week from 11 March, when schools were closed in Germany, a drastic (more than 2 standard deviations) but time‐limited increase in utilization of the ProHEAD‐online services became apparent. This may indicate a worsened mental health status and an increased help seeking via digital services during the lockdown. Although this finding is purely observational, it speaks to the importance of evidence‐based online service in the field of mental health within the current crisis and beyond.

The impact of COVID-19 related lockdown measures on self-reported psychopathology and health-related quality of life in German adolescents

“…While our data do appear comforting, they do not implicate that there is no need to support children and adolescents in a pandemic situation. Previously, we have described an increase in the utilization of the ProHEAD online interventions during the lockdown period in March 2020 [ 30 ]. Further, although our methodology allowed us to capture potential immediate effects of school-closings, it is well possible that actual effects on mental health are observed in longer follow-ups.…”

Social isolation, mental health, and use of digital interventions in youth during the COVID-19 pandemic: a nationally representative survey

“…Furthermore, positive attitudes toward the use of mHealth apps to help alleviate the psychosocial consequences of the pandemic were highly prevalent and associated with an objective need (e.g., more severe levels of psychological distress and higher levels of worrying). There have been also other studies which have reported that individuals have a positive attitude toward, and increasingly use, digital interventions during the current COVID-19 pandemic across the whole spectrum of public mental health provision (i.e., mental health promotion, prevention, and treatment of mental disorders) [36][37][38]49,50], and alterations of telemedicine regulations have been reported [51]. However, mHealth apps provide the opportunity of delivering lowthreshold, personalized mental health care in daily life.…”

The need for accessible mental health interventions for young adults in the COVID-19 pandemic: A student psychologists’ perspective and rapid systematic review

“…In the last years, there has been a rapid increase in the use of online and digital mental health services and interventions, with promising and, in some cases, long-lasting effects on reductions of mental health problems 63 , with therapeutic effects similar to that of face-to-face therapies 64 . The COVID-19 pandemic, inevitably, led to a massive increase in the use of prescribed online interventions and therapy programs [65][66][67] . Rauschenberg and colleagues 68 reviewed 83 studies on the feasibility, use, and benefits of online interventions for mental health concerns in the general population during the pandemic.…”

“…Several countries reported a massive increase in the use of psychological crisis helplines across all ages, with a particular high need among young adults (e.g., [72][73][74][75] ). Hence, with a (increasing) deterioration in people's mental wellbeing during the pandemic, more people are now seeking help through digital services [65][66][67] . However, as shown by one exemplary survey, only about 8% of the adults in the UK use available online services to directly support their mental health during COVID-19 76 .…”