JMIR Publications

ABSTRACT

Background:

It is imperative to understand how adolescents have responded to the public health emergency spurred by COVID-19. Due to various factors, such as social isolation and disruptions in activities, adolescents are susceptible to worsening mood symptoms and decreased overall wellbeing and indeed, we have seen a decline in adolescent mental health. The use of technology has been essential to enable continued access to social networks and connections.

Objective:

The study aimed to understand how adolescents have used technology to support their wellness throughout the pandemic, which is critical in order to further support adolescent resilience, wellbeing, and overall mental health.

Methods:

We developed a semi-structured interview protocol based on feedback from subject matter experts in the field of adolescent mental health in order to facilitate 1-hour interviews with 50 adolescents (ages 14-18) to assess what technology they are utilizing, how they have overcome initial barriers, and how they are successfully utilizing the technology to foster wellbeing and resiliency throughout the COVID-19 pandemic. Adolescents were recruited nationally from both rural and metro areas.  We followed an inductive qualitative data analysis process which aligns with best practices in qualitative research.  

Results:

The overarching themes identified from the data were: Covid-19 Negative Effect on Wellbeing, Relationships and Interactions, Positive Role of Technology, Negative Role of Technology, Community Involvement, and Resiliency. Guidelines for adolescent technology use were developed to be disseminated as a resource for parents, teachers, caregivers, and adolescents themselves. These guidelines offer recommendations for how technology can be leveraged to bolster resilience, compassion, connection, and overall wellbeing among this population. Future research focused on increasing generalizability of recommendations and identifying additional ways to leverage mental health technologies is warranted.

Conclusions:

Our study highlights how adolescents have utilized technology for wellbeing throughout the COVID-19 pandemic and led to the creation of guidelines which offer recommendations for how technology can be leveraged to bolster resilience, compassion, connection, and overall wellbeing among this population. Future research focused on increasing generalizability of recommendations and identifying additional ways to leverage mental health technologies is warranted. Clinical Trial: Not applicable since this was not an RCT.