JMIR Publications

ABSTRACT

Background:

Seventy-five percent of people with mental health disorders have an onset of illness between ages 12-24 years. Many in this age group report substantial obstacles to receiving quality youth-centered mental health care services. With the rapid development of technology, and the recent COVID-19 pandemic, mobile health (mHealth) has presented new opportunities for youth mental health research, practice, and policy.

Objective:

The research objective is 1) to synthesize the current evidence supporting mHealth interventions for youth who experience mental health challenges; and 2) to identify current gaps in the mHealth field, with an overarching goal of improving youth mental health service access and health outcomes.

Methods:

Guided by the methods of Arksey and O’Malley, we conducted a scoping review of peer-reviewed studies that used mHealth tools to improve youth mental health (Jan 2016-Feb 2022). Using MEDLINE, PubMed, PsycINFO, and Embase databases, we searched using the following key terms: 1) mHealth; 2) youth and young adults; 3) mental health.

Results:

The search produced 4270 records, of which 151 met inclusion criteria. Included articles highlight the comprehensive aspects of youth mHealth intervention resource allocation for targeted conditions, mHealth delivery methods, measurement tools, evaluation of mHealth intervention, and youth engagement.

Conclusions:

A plethora of diverse research studies exist in the youth mHealth space, but few are co-designed with youth. Moreover, the results highlight concerns related to weak study design and the types of outcome measures selected to capture impact or changes over time. Notably, the results suggest a lack of standardized regulations and guidelines for researching mHealth technologies for youth and the use of non-youth-centered approaches to implementing results. Future research and changes to practice and policy are needed to ensure mHealth is meeting the needs of youth.