Previously submitted to: JMIR Mental Health (no longer under consideration since Dec 01, 2023)
Date Submitted: Nov 30, 2023
Warning: This is an author submission that is not peer-reviewed or edited. Preprints - unless they show as "accepted" - should not be relied on to guide clinical practice or health-related behavior and should not be reported in news media as established information.
Application of Positive Psychology in Digital Interventions for Adolescents and Young Adults: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of (Randomized) Control Trials
ABSTRACT
Background:
The rising prevalence of mental health issues in adolescents and young adults (AYA) has become an escalating public health issue, impacting approximately 10% to 20% of AYA on a global scale. Positive psychology interventions (PPIs) can act as powerful mental health promotion tools, offering an effective means to reach wide-ranging audiences that might otherwise be challenging to access, enabling prevention and widespread well-being promotion by enhancing self-efficacy and supporting the achievement of tangible objectives.
Objective:
Our goal is to conduct a comprehensive synthesis of all randomized controlled trials (RCT) involving adolescents and young adults, encompassing both clinical and non-clinical populations, to globally evaluate the effectiveness of digital PPIs within this age group, through a systematic review and meta-analysis.
Methods:
After a literature search in 9 electronic databases uptil 12 January 2023, and grey literature uptil April 2023, we carried out a systematic review for 35 articles and a meta-analysis of 18 studies. We included RCT mainly based on positive psychology online, digital or smartphone-based intervention among including children, adolescents, and young adults with a mean age < 35 years from both clinical and non-clinical population. Outcomes of PPI were defined as well-being and ill-being. PRISMA (Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-analyses) guidelines were used for selection of studies and data extraction. Quality assessment was also performed. Standard mean differences (SMDs) were calculated for the outcomes.
Results:
PPIs included various components: online meditation and mindfulness in 25.7% of the studies, positive psychology and self-compassion in 28.6% of the studies, gratitude and acts of kindness in 8.6% of the studies, optimism and positive emotion in 14.3% of the studies, relationship satisfaction and acceptance in 5.7% of the studies, purpose and well-being in 14.3% of the studies. 74.4% of the studies focused on ill-being.
Conclusions:
There's strong evidence that PPIs benefit young people's well-being. Digital platforms offer a unique way to address their mental health challenges, although without limitations. Future research should explore how they work and adapt to the needs of AYA. Clinical Trial: The protocol was registered in the PROSPERO (registration no. CRD42023420092).
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