%0 Journal Article
%@ 2368-7959
%I JMIR Publications
%V 8
%N 4
%P e25847
%T Evidence on Digital Mental Health Interventions for Adolescents and Young People: Systematic Overview
%A Lehtimaki,Susanna
%A Martic,Jana
%A Wahl,Brian
%A Foster,Katherine T
%A Schwalbe,Nina
%+ Heilbrunn Department of Population and Family Health, Columbia Mailman School of Public Health, 722 W 168th Street, New York, NY, 10032, United States, 1 9172262645, nschwalbe@ssc.nyc
%K digital health
%K adolescent health
%K young people
%K mental health
%K digital technologies
%D 2021
%7 29.4.2021
%9 Review
%J JMIR Ment Health
%G English
%X Background: An estimated 1 in 5 adolescents experience a mental health disorder each year; yet because of barriers to accessing and seeking care, most remain undiagnosed and untreated. Furthermore, the early emergence of psychopathology contributes to a lifelong course of challenges across a broad set of functional domains, so addressing this early in the life course is essential. With increasing digital connectivity, including in low- and middle-income countries, digital health technologies are considered promising for addressing mental health among adolescents and young people. In recent years, a growing number of digital health interventions, including more than 2 million web-based mental health apps, have been developed to address a range of mental health issues. Objective: This review aims to synthesize the current evidence on digital health interventions targeting adolescents and young people with mental health conditions, aged between 10-24 years, with a focus on effectiveness, cost-effectiveness, and generalizability to low-resource settings (eg, low- and middle-income countries). Methods: We searched MEDLINE, PubMed, PsycINFO, and Cochrane databases between January 2010 and June 2020 for systematic reviews and meta-analyses on digital mental health interventions targeting adolescents and young people aged between 10-24 years. Two authors independently screened the studies, extracted data, and assessed the quality of the reviews. Results: In this systematic overview, we included 18 systematic reviews and meta-analyses. We found evidence on the effectiveness of computerized cognitive behavioral therapy on anxiety and depression, whereas the effectiveness of other digital mental health interventions remains inconclusive. Interventions with an in-person element with a professional, peer, or parent were associated with greater effectiveness, adherence, and lower dropout than fully automatized or self-administered interventions. Despite the proposed utility of digital interventions for increasing accessibility of treatment across settings, no study has reported sample-specific metrics of social context (eg, socioeconomic background) or focused on low-resource settings. Conclusions: Although digital interventions for mental health can be effective for both supplementing and supplanting traditional mental health treatment, only a small proportion of existing digital platforms are evidence based. Furthermore, their cost-effectiveness and effectiveness, including in low- and middle-income countries, have been understudied. Widespread adoption and scale-up of digital mental health interventions, especially in settings with limited resources for health, will require more rigorous and consistent demonstrations of effectiveness and cost-effectiveness vis-à-vis the type of service provided, target population, and the current standard of care. 
%M 33913817
%R 10.2196/25847
%U https://mental.jmir.org/2021/4/e25847
%U https://doi.org/10.2196/25847
%U http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/33913817