Examining interventions to improve young deaf people's mental health: a search for evidence

Background Young deaf and hard of hearing people have a higher prevalence of mental health problems than their hearing peers. Little is known about mental health interventions that promote positive mental health in this population group. Aim To evaluate evidence of mental health interventions with young deaf and hard of hearing people. Methods A literature review was performed over four databases: CINAHL, Medline, Web of Science and Proquest, for peer reviewed articles written in English that focused on interventions to improve young Deaf people's mental health. Results The search yielded 62 papers, with none eligible for inclusion. Information did not relate directly to mental health interventions that improve young deaf and hard of hearing people's mental health or that support social and emotional behavioural issues. Conclusions Practitioners and researchers need to work closely with deaf and hard of hearing communities and explore what improves young deaf and hard of hearing people's mental health.

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PP71 Long-Term Evaluation Of Broad Mental Health Interventions: A Review

International Journal of Technology Assessment in Health Care ◽

10.1017/s0266462318002295 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 34 (S1) ◽

pp. 95-96

Author(s):

Alastair Canaway ◽

Christopher Sampson ◽

Rachel Meacock

Keyword(s):

Mental Health ◽

Mental Health Problems ◽

Outcome Measurement ◽

Health Problems ◽

Trial Data ◽

Health Interventions ◽

Data Availability ◽

Term Trial ◽

Mental Health Interventions

Introduction:Interventions and services for people with mental health problems can have broad remits: they are often designed to treat people with a variety of diagnoses. Furthermore, addressing mental health problems can have long-term implications for economic, social, and health outcomes. This represents a challenge for health technology assessment, for which long-term trial data can be lacking. In this review, we sought to identify how analysts have tackled this problem. We reviewed the methods used to extrapolate costs and outcomes for the purpose of economic evaluation where long-term trial data are not available.Methods:We conducted a systematic review of the medical and economic literature evaluating long-term costs and outcomes for mental health interventions and services designed to treat or prevent more than two mental health conditions. We searched key databases including MEDLINE, Embase, PsycINFO, CINAHL, and EconLit. Two authors independently screened citations. Articles were excluded if they reported within-trial analyses or employed a time horizon of less than 5 years.Results:The search identified 829 unique records. No papers could be included in the review.Conclusions:This review highlights the lack of research and understanding available to inform the appraisal of broad mental health interventions. In light of our findings, we consider the reasons for this lack of information and review relevant literature on the subject. Potential barriers to research in this context include: (i) challenges in understanding the value of broad mental health services, such as the mental and physical health nexus, intersectoral costs and benefits, and interpersonal impacts, (ii) methodological difficulties, such as data availability, patient heterogeneity, and the challenge of extrapolation, and (iii) parity of esteem. We make recommendations for resolving this problem with regard to funding, data collection, modelling methods, and outcome measurement.

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Health Personnel’s Perceived Usefulness of Internet-Based Interventions for Parents of Children Younger Than 5 Years: Cross-Sectional Web-Based Survey Study

JMIR Mental Health ◽

10.2196/15149 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 7 (11) ◽

pp. e15149

Author(s):

Hege Therese Størksen ◽

Silje Marie Haga ◽

Kari Slinning ◽

Filip Drozd

Keyword(s):

Mental Health ◽

Child Mental Health ◽

Mental Health Problems ◽

Adolescent Mental Health ◽

Child And Adolescent ◽

Health Problems ◽

Perceived Usefulness ◽

Health Interventions ◽

Child Health Services ◽

Mental Health Interventions

Background Approximately 10%-15% of children struggle with different socioemotional and psychological difficulties in infancy and early childhood. Thus, health service providers should have access to mental health interventions that can reach more parents than traditional face-to-face interventions. However, despite increasing evidence on the efficacy of internet-based mental health interventions, the pace in transferring such interventions to health care has been slow. One of the major suggested barriers to this may be the health personnel’s attitudes to perceived usefulness of internet-based interventions. Objective The purpose of this study was to examine health professionals’ perceived usefulness of internet-based mental health interventions and to identify the key areas that they consider new internet-based services to be useful. Methods Between May and September 2018, 2884 leaders and practitioners of infant and child health services were recruited to a cross-sectional web-based survey through the following channels: (1) existing email addresses from the Regional Centre for Child and Adolescent Mental Health, Eastern and Southern Norway, course database, (2) an official mailing list to infant and child health services, (3) social media, or (4) other recruitment channels. Respondents filled in background information and were asked to rate the usefulness of internet-based interventions for 12 different infant and child mental health problem areas based on the broad categories from the Diagnostic Classification of Mental Health and Developmental Disorders of Infancy and Early Childhood (DC:0-5). Perceived usefulness was assessed with 1 global item: “How often do you think internet-based self-help programs can be useful for following infant and child mental health problems in your line of work?” The answers were scored on a 4-point scale ranging from 0 (never) to 3 (often). Results The participants reported that they sometimes or often perceived internet-based interventions as useful for different infant and child mental health problems (scale of 0-3, all means>1.61). Usefulness of internet-based interventions was rated acceptable for sleep problems (mean 2.22), anxiety (mean 2.09), and social withdrawal and shyness (mean 2.07), whereas internet-based interventions were rated as less useful for psychiatric problems such as obsessive behaviors (mean 1.89), developmental disorders (mean 1.91), or trauma (mean 1.61). Further, there were a few but small differences in perceived usefulness between service leaders and practitioners (all effect sizes<0.32, all P<.02) and small-to-moderate differences among daycare centers, well-baby clinics, municipal child welfare services, and child and adolescent mental health clinics (all effect sizes<0.69, all P<.006). Conclusions Internet-based interventions for different infant and child mental health problems within services such as daycare centers, well-baby clinics, municipal child welfare services, and child and adolescent mental health clinics are sometimes or often perceived as useful. These encouraging findings can support the continued exploration of internet-based mental health interventions as a way to improve parental support.

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Development of a framework for the implementation of synchronous digital mental health: a realist synthesis of systematic reviews (Preprint)

10.2196/preprints.34760 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

David Villarreal-Zegarra ◽

Christoper A. Alarcon-Ruiz ◽

GJ Melendez-Torres ◽

Roberto Torres-Puente ◽

Alba Navarro-Flores ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Mental Health ◽

Systematic Reviews ◽

Mental Health Problems ◽

Digital Health ◽

Health Problems ◽

Realist Synthesis ◽

Health Interventions ◽

Theory Approach ◽

Access To Treatment ◽

Mental Health Interventions

BACKGROUND The use of technologies has served to reduce gaps in access to treatment and digital health interventions show promise in the care of mental health problems. However, to understand what and how these interventions work, it's imperative to document the aspects related to their challenging implementation. OBJECTIVE To determine what evidence is available for synchronous digital mental health implementation and develop a framework, informed by a realist review, to explain what makes digital mental health interventions work for people with mental health problems. METHODS The SPIDER framework was used to develop the following review question: What makes digital mental health interventions with a synchronous component work on people with mental health problems, including depression, anxiety, or stress, based on implementation, economic, quantitative, qualitative, and mixed methods studies? MEDLINE, EBM Reviews, PsycINFO, EMBASE, SCOPUS, CINAHL Complete, and Web of Science databases from 1st January 2015 to September 2020 were searched with no language restriction. AMSTAR-2 was used to assess the risk of bias, and CERQual was used to assess the confidence in cumulative evidence. Realist synthesis analysis allowed for developing a framework on the implementation of synchronous digital mental health using a grounded theory approach with an emergent approach. RESULTS 21 systematic reviews were included in the study. Ninety percent of the studies presented a critically low confidence level assessed with the AMSTAR-2. The realist synthesis allowed the development of three hypotheses to identify the context and mechanisms in which these interventions achieve these outcomes: Hypothesis 1: These interventions reach populations otherwise unable to have access because they do not require the physical presence of the therapist nor the patient, thereby tackling geographic barriers posed by in-person therapy. Hypothesis 2: These interventions reach populations otherwise unable to have access because they can be successfully delivered by non-specialists, which makes them more cost-effective to implement in health services. Hypothesis 3: These interventions are acceptable and show good results in satisfaction, because they require less need of disclosure and provide more privacy, comfortability, and participation, enabling the establishment of rapport with the therapist. CONCLUSIONS We developed a framework with three hypotheses that explain what makes digital mental health interventions with a synchronous component work on people with mental health problems. Each hypothesis represented essential outcomes in the implementation process. CLINICALTRIAL PROSPERO (CRD420203811). INTERNATIONAL REGISTERED REPORT RR2-10.12688/f1000research.27150.2

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The Effectiveness of Individual Mental Health Interventions for Depressive, Anxiety and Conduct Disorder Symptoms in School Environment for Adolescents Aged 12–18—A Systematic Review

Frontiers in Psychiatry ◽

10.3389/fpsyt.2021.779933 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 12 ◽

Author(s):

Johanna Karukivi ◽

Outi Herrala ◽

Elina Säteri ◽

Anna Tornivuori ◽

Sanna Salanterä ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Mental Health ◽

Systematic Review ◽

School Environment ◽

Mental Health Problems ◽

Health Problems ◽

Health Interventions ◽

Control Group ◽

Qualitative Synthesis ◽

Mental Health Interventions

Background: Mental health problems are a major health issue for children and adolescents around the world. The school environment allows adolescents to be reached comprehensively and on a low threshold, making it a potential environment for mental health interventions. The aim of this review was to describe interventions delivered by health-care workers in school environment for individual adolescents aged 12–18 with mental health problems and to assess the effectiveness of these interventions.Methods: This systematic review was conducted in adherence with the PRISMA guidelines. Altogether 349 studies were screened and 24 of them were included in full text assessment. Eight studies were included in the qualitative synthesis. Only in three studies the intervention was compared to another intervention or the study setting included a control group. Five of the interventions were based on cognitive-behavioral therapy and three on other approaches. In seven studies, one of the main response variables was based on assessment of depressive symptoms and/or a depressive disorder. The quality of the studies was limited with notable risk for bias for some studies.Results: Based on reported symptom reductions, for most of the interventions, the results were good. Symptom reductions were also typically achieved in a rather low number of sessions (12 or less) supporting the feasibility of these type of interventions in school environment. However, the lack of use of control groups and actual comparisons between the interventions, limit the possibility to draw firm conclusions regarding their effectiveness and thus, the results should be interpreted with caution. Confirming the effectiveness of the studied interventions requires more robust evidence and thus, improving the quality of studies in the school environment is encouraged.

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Health Personnel’s Perceived Usefulness of Internet-Based Interventions for Parents of Children Younger Than 5 Years: Cross-Sectional Web-Based Survey Study (Preprint)

10.2196/preprints.15149 ◽

2019 ◽

Author(s):

Hege Therese Størksen ◽

Silje Marie Haga ◽

Kari Slinning ◽

Filip Drozd

Keyword(s):

Mental Health ◽

Child Mental Health ◽

Mental Health Problems ◽

Adolescent Mental Health ◽

Child And Adolescent ◽

Health Problems ◽

Perceived Usefulness ◽

Health Interventions ◽

Child Health Services ◽

Mental Health Interventions

BACKGROUND Approximately 10%-15% of children struggle with different socioemotional and psychological difficulties in infancy and early childhood. Thus, health service providers should have access to mental health interventions that can reach more parents than traditional face-to-face interventions. However, despite increasing evidence on the efficacy of internet-based mental health interventions, the pace in transferring such interventions to health care has been slow. One of the major suggested barriers to this may be the health personnel’s attitudes to perceived usefulness of internet-based interventions. OBJECTIVE The purpose of this study was to examine health professionals’ perceived usefulness of internet-based mental health interventions and to identify the key areas that they consider new internet-based services to be useful. METHODS Between May and September 2018, 2884 leaders and practitioners of infant and child health services were recruited to a cross-sectional web-based survey through the following channels: (1) existing email addresses from the Regional Centre for Child and Adolescent Mental Health, Eastern and Southern Norway, course database, (2) an official mailing list to infant and child health services, (3) social media, or (4) other recruitment channels. Respondents filled in background information and were asked to rate the usefulness of internet-based interventions for 12 different infant and child mental health problem areas based on the broad categories from the Diagnostic Classification of Mental Health and Developmental Disorders of Infancy and Early Childhood (DC:0-5). Perceived usefulness was assessed with 1 global item: “How often do you think internet-based self-help programs can be useful for following infant and child mental health problems in your line of work?” The answers were scored on a 4-point scale ranging from 0 (never) to 3 (often). RESULTS The participants reported that they sometimes or often perceived internet-based interventions as useful for different infant and child mental health problems (scale of 0-3, all means>1.61). Usefulness of internet-based interventions was rated acceptable for sleep problems (mean 2.22), anxiety (mean 2.09), and social withdrawal and shyness (mean 2.07), whereas internet-based interventions were rated as less useful for psychiatric problems such as obsessive behaviors (mean 1.89), developmental disorders (mean 1.91), or trauma (mean 1.61). Further, there were a few but small differences in perceived usefulness between service leaders and practitioners (all effect sizes<0.32, all P<.02) and small-to-moderate differences among daycare centers, well-baby clinics, municipal child welfare services, and child and adolescent mental health clinics (all effect sizes<0.69, all P<.006). CONCLUSIONS Internet-based interventions for different infant and child mental health problems within services such as daycare centers, well-baby clinics, municipal child welfare services, and child and adolescent mental health clinics are sometimes or often perceived as useful. These encouraging findings can support the continued exploration of internet-based mental health interventions as a way to improve parental support.

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Development of a Framework for the Implementation of Synchronous Digital Mental Health: A Realist Synthesis of Systematic Reviews

10.21203/rs.3.rs-1029302/v1 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

David Villarreal-Zegarra ◽

Christoper A. Alarcon-Ruiz ◽

GJ Melendez-Torres ◽

Roberto Torres-Puente ◽

Alba Navarro-Flores ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Mental Health ◽

Systematic Reviews ◽

Mental Health Problems ◽

Digital Health ◽

Health Problems ◽

Realist Synthesis ◽

Health Interventions ◽

Theory Approach ◽

Access To Treatment ◽

Mental Health Interventions

Abstract Background: The use of technologies has served to reduce gaps in access to treatment and digital health interventions show promise in the care of mental health problems. However, to understand what and how these interventions work, it's imperative to document the aspects related to their challenging implementation. Methods: The SPIDER framework was used to develop the following review question: What makes digital mental health interventions with a synchronous component work on people with mental health problems, including depression, anxiety, or stress, based on implementation, economic, quantitative, qualitative, and mixed methods studies? MEDLINE, EBM Reviews, PsycINFO, EMBASE, SCOPUS, CINAHL Complete, and Web of Science databases from 1st January 2015 to September 2020 were searched with no language restriction. AMSTAR-2 was used to assess the risk of bias, and CERQual was used to assess the confidence in cumulative evidence. Realist synthesis analysis allowed for developing a framework on the implementation of synchronous digital mental health using a grounded theory approach with an emergent approach.Results: 21 systematic reviews were included in the study. Ninety percent of the studies presented a critically low confidence level assessed with the AMSTAR-2. The realist synthesis allowed the development of three hypotheses to identify the context and mechanisms in which these interventions achieve these outcomes: Hypothesis 1: These interventions reach populations otherwise unable to have access because they do not require the physical presence of the therapist nor the patient, thereby tackling geographic barriers posed by in-person therapy. Hypothesis 2: These interventions reach populations otherwise unable to have access because they can be successfully delivered by non-specialists, which makes them more cost-effective to implement in health services. Hypothesis 3: These interventions are acceptable and show good results in satisfaction, because they require less need of disclosure and provide more privacy, comfortability, and participation, enabling the establishment of rapport with the therapist.Conclusion: We developed a framework with three hypotheses that explain what makes digital mental health interventions with a synchronous component work on people with mental health problems. Each hypothesis represented essential outcomes in the implementation process.Registration: PROSPERO (CRD420203811).

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Development of a Framework for the Implementation of Synchronous Digital Mental Health: A Realist Synthesis of Systematic Reviews

10.21203/rs.3.rs-1029302/v2 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

David Villarreal-Zegarra ◽

Christoper A. Alarcon-Ruiz ◽

GJ Melendez-Torres ◽

Roberto Torres-Puente ◽

Alba Navarro-Flores ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Mental Health ◽

Systematic Reviews ◽

Mental Health Problems ◽

Digital Health ◽

Health Problems ◽

Realist Synthesis ◽

Health Interventions ◽

Theory Approach ◽

Access To Treatment ◽

Mental Health Interventions

Abstract Background: The use of technologies has served to reduce gaps in access to treatment and digital health interventions show promise in the care of mental health problems. However, to understand what and how these interventions work, it's imperative to document the aspects related to their challenging implementation. Objective: To determine what evidence is available for synchronous digital mental health implementation and develop a framework, informed by a realist review, to explain what makes digital mental health interventions work for people with mental health problems.Methods: The SPIDER framework was used to develop the following review question: What makes digital mental health interventions with a synchronous component work on people with mental health problems, including depression, anxiety, or stress, based on implementation, economic, quantitative, qualitative, and mixed methods studies? MEDLINE, EBM Reviews, PsycINFO, EMBASE, SCOPUS, CINAHL Complete, and Web of Science databases from 1st January 2015 to September 2020 were searched. Realist synthesis analysis allowed for developing a framework on the implementation of synchronous digital mental health using a grounded theory approach with an emergent approach.Results: 21 systematic reviews were included in the study. The realist synthesis allowed the development of three hypotheses to identify the context and mechanisms in which these interventions achieve these outcomes: Hypothesis 1: These interventions reach populations otherwise unable to have access because they do not require the physical presence of the therapist nor the patient, thereby tackling geographic barriers posed by in-person therapy. Hypothesis 2: These interventions reach populations otherwise unable to have access because they can be successfully delivered by non-specialists, which makes them more cost-effective to implement in health services. Hypothesis 3: These interventions are acceptable and show good results in satisfaction, because they require less need of disclosure and provide more privacy, comfortability, and participation, enabling the establishment of rapport with the therapist.Conclusion: We developed a framework with three hypotheses that explain what makes digital mental health interventions with a synchronous component work on people with mental health problems. Each hypothesis represented essential outcomes in the implementation process.Systematic review registration: PROSPERO (CRD420203811).

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Economics of Youth Mental Health: essays on Juvenile Delinquency, Education and Policy

10.33612/diss.165767790 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

◽

Roel Freriks

Keyword(s):

Mental Health ◽

Mental Health Problems ◽

Economic Value ◽

Compulsory Education ◽

Policy Decision ◽

Cost Effective ◽

Youth Mental Health ◽

Health Problems ◽

Health Interventions ◽

Mental Health Interventions

Mental health problems largely originate during youth and affect one out of five individuals worldwide. The corresponding individual disease burden lead to significant societal costs, as youth mental health problems have a long-lasting impact over the life-cycle. Through an economic lens youth mental health can be seen as a pivotal element of human capital, associated with educational progress and labour market participation, required to produce economic value. Despite the relevance of youth mental health from both a health and economic perspective, there is still an imperative need for research to reduce the burden of mental health for future generations. In this thesis we have focused on one piece of the puzzle, i.e. the lack of data-driven evaluation strategies to identify (cost-)effective youth mental health interventions. One of the challenges is the fact that in many cases, experiments (i.e., randomized controlled trials) remain difficult or impossible to implement, for financial, political, or ethical reasons, or because the population of interest is too small. Therefore, I demonstrate in this thesis that observational data could be used to provide crucial insights for clinical and policy decision-making in order to make more optimal budget allocations. We were able to identify the role of policies in youth mental health trajectories (chapter 2), the effect of mental health interventions on societal outcomes (chapter 3), the relationship between monitoring compliance to compulsory education and student’s test scores (chapter 4), and the long-run return to government expenditures in special education (chapter 5).

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“Smartphone Apps Are Cool, but Do They Help Me?”: A Qualitative Interview Study of Adolescents’ Perspectives on Using Smartphone Interventions to Manage Nonsuicidal Self-Injury

International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health ◽

10.3390/ijerph18063289 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 18 (6) ◽

pp. 3289

Author(s):

Anja Čuš ◽

Julian Edbrooke-Childs ◽

Susanne Ohmann ◽

Paul L. Plener ◽

Türkan Akkaya-Kalayci

Keyword(s):

Mental Health ◽

Young People ◽

Mental Health Problems ◽

Health Interventions ◽

Structured Interviews ◽

Related Factors ◽

Self Injury ◽

Qualitative Interview Study ◽

Mental Health Interventions ◽

Nonsuicidal Self Injury

Nonsuicidal self-injury (NSSI) is a major mental health problem associated with negative psychosocial outcomes and it most often starts in early adolescence. Despite this, adolescents are rarely involved in informing the development of interventions designed to address their mental health problems. This study aimed to (1) assess adolescents’ needs and preferences about future interventions that are delivered through smartphones and (2) develop a framework with implications for designing engaging digital mental health interventions. Fifteen adolescent girls, aged 12–18 years, who met diagnostic criteria for a current NSSI disorder and were in contact with mental health services, participated in semi-structured interviews. Following a reflexive thematic analysis approach, this study identified two main themes: (1) Experiences of NSSI (depicts the needs of young people related to their everyday experiences of managing NSSI) and (2) App in Context (portrays preferences of young people about smartphone interventions and reflects adolescents’ views on how technology itself can improve or hinder engaging with these interventions). Adolescent patients expressed interest in using smartphone mental health interventions if they recognize them as helpful, relevant for their life situation and easy to use. The developed framework suggests that digital mental health interventions are embedded in three contexts (i.e., person using the intervention, mental health condition, and technology-related factors) which together need to inform the development of engaging digital resources. To achieve this, the cooperation among people with lived experience, mental health experts, and human computer interaction professionals is vital.

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Online Indicated Preventive Mental Health Interventions for Youth: A Scoping Review

Frontiers in Psychiatry ◽

10.3389/fpsyt.2021.580843 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 12 ◽

Author(s):

Marilon van Doorn ◽

Laurens A. Nijhuis ◽

Mees D. Egeler ◽

Joost G. Daams ◽

Arne Popma ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Mental Health ◽

Scoping Review ◽

Mental Health Problems ◽

Well Being ◽

Health Interventions ◽

Health Complaints ◽

Preventive Interventions ◽

Online Interventions ◽

Preventive Mental Health ◽

Mental Health Interventions

Objective: Between the ages of 12 and 25 the onset of mental disorders typically occurs, and the burden of mental health problems is greatest for this group. Indicated preventive interventions to target individuals with subclinical symptoms to prevent the transition to clinical levels of disorders have gained considerable traction. However, the threshold to seek help appears to be high even when help is needed. Online interventions could offer a solution, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic. This scoping review will present an overview of the recent research of indicated online preventive interventions for youth (12–25 years) experiencing the early stages of mental health complaints with the aim of identifying the nature and extent of the research evidence.Methods: The 5-stage framework by Arksey and O'Malley was used. Academic literature published from 2013 onwards in printed or electronic format was included from Scopus, PsychINFO, and Ovid MEDLINE(R) ALL.Results: The search yielded 11,122 results, with the final selection resulting in inclusion of 30 articles for this review. In total, the articles included 4,950 participants. 26.7% of the selected articles focused on youth between 12 and 25 years. Of the articles 60% did not screen for, nor exclude participants with clinical levels of symptoms. Most studies used a common evidence-based therapy for the disorder-category targeted. More than half of the online interventions included some form of human support. Adherence levels ranged between 27.9 and 98%. The results indicate general effectiveness, usability and acceptability of online indicated preventive interventions. The most commonly used approach was CBT (n = 12 studies). Studies varied in their size, rigor of study, effectiveness and outcome measures. Online interventions with a combination of clinical and peer moderation (n = 3 studies) appear to result in the most stable and highest effect sizes.Conclusion: Online indicated preventive mental health interventions for youth with emerging mental health issues show promise in reducing various mental health complaints, and increasing positive mental health indicators such as well-being and resilience. Additionally, high levels of usability and acceptability were found. However, the included studies show important methodological shortcomings. Also, the research has mainly focused on specific diagnostic categories, meaning there is a lack of transdiagnostic approaches. Finally, clear definitions of- as well as instruments to measure- emerging or subclinical mental health symptoms in youth remain are missing.

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