JMIR Publications

ABSTRACT

Background:

Digital technologies play an increasingly important role in the lives of young people and have important effects on their mental health.

Objective:

We set out to explore three key areas of the intersection of digital technology and mental health: i) the views and experiences of both young people and clinicians with regards to digital technology and mental health; ii) implementation, and barriers to implementation of UK national guidance recommending that discussion of digital technology use should form a core part of mental health assessment; iii) how digital technology might be used to support existing consultations.

Methods:

Two cross-sectional online surveys were conducted in 2020, with mental health clinicians (n = 99) and young people (n = 320). Descriptive statistics were used to summarise proportions. Multilinear regression was used to explore how answers varied by gender, sexuality, and age. Thematic analysis was used to explore the content of extended free-text answers. Anxiety was measured by the Generalised Anxiety Questionnaire-7.

Results:

Digital technology use was ubiquitous among young people with positive and negative aspects acknowledged by both clinicians and young people. Negative experiences were common (131/284, 46.1%) and associated with increased anxiety levels among young people (3.29, 95% CI 1.97 to 4.61, P < .001). Although discussion of digital technology use was regarded as important by clinicians and acceptable by young people, under half of clinicians (42/85, 49.4%) routinely asked about use of digital technology and over a third of young people who had received mental health care had never been asked about their digital technology use (48/121, 39.6%). Conversations were often experienced as unhelpful. Helpful conversations were characterised by greater depth and exploration of how an individual’s digital technology use related to mental health. Despite most clinicians wanting training (59/83, 71.1%), very few healthcare professionals reported having received this (21/86, 24.4%). Clinicians were open to viewing mental health data from apps or social media to help with consultations. Although young people were generally in theory comfortable with sharing such data with health professionals, when presented with a binary choice a majority reported not wanting to do so within consultations.

Conclusions:

Digital technology use is common and negative experiences are frequent and associated with anxiety. Over a third of young people are not asked about their digital technology use in mental health contacts and potentially valuable information about relevant negative online experiences is not being captured in consultations. Clinicians would benefit from having access to training to help support these discussions with young people.