JMIR Publications

ABSTRACT

Background:

Youth mental health disorders are a global issue that have important implications for the future quality of life and morbidity of affected individuals. In the context of public health initiatives, smartphone-based interventions have been suggested to have the potential to be an effective strategy that reduces the symptoms of youth mental health disorders; however, further evaluation is needed to confirm their effectiveness. This systematic review and meta-analysis documents and synthesizes existing research on smartphone-based interventions targeting internalizing disorders in youth populations.

Objective:

To synthesize existing research on smartphone-based interventions targeting internalizing disorders in youth populations.

Methods:

PubMed and SCOPUS were searched in 2019, and 4,334 potentially relevant articles were found. A total of 12 studies were included in the final synthesis. Hunter and Schmidt’s “bare bones” approach for d-value meta-analyses and a random effects model were utilized

Results:

Important results of the review note that depression and anxiety are the overwhelmingly targeted symptoms, and, unlike other similar topics, the majority of studies reviewed were linked to a proven treatment. The overall pooled effect from the meta-analysis showed small but significant effects (k = 12, N = 1,360, d = 0.20, 95% CI: 0.06, 0.34) for smartphone interventions in reducing the symptoms of internalizing disorders. Four subgroup analyses examining specific symptoms and intervention styles found varied small but nonsignificant effects.

Conclusions:

Future research should target developing robust evaluative frameworks and examining interventions among more diverse populations and settings. More robust research is needed before smartphone-based interventions are scaled up and used at the population level to address youth internalizing disorders.