scholarly journals Digital Mental Health for Young People: A Scoping Review of Ethical Promises and Challenges

2021 ◽  
Vol 3 ◽  
Author(s):  
Blanche Wies ◽  
Constantin Landers ◽  
Marcello Ienca

Mental health disorders are complex disorders of the nervous system characterized by a behavioral or mental pattern that causes significant distress or impairment of personal functioning. Mental illness is of particular concern for younger people. The WHO estimates that around 20% of the world's children and adolescents have a mental health condition, a rate that is almost double compared to the general population. One approach toward mitigating the medical and socio-economic effects of mental health disorders is leveraging the power of digital health technology to deploy assistive, preventative, and therapeutic solutions for people in need. We define “digital mental health” as any application of digital health technology for mental health assessment, support, prevention, and treatment. However, there is only limited evidence that digital mental health tools can be successfully implemented in clinical settings. Authors have pointed to a lack of technical and medical standards for digital mental health apps, personalized neurotechnology, and assistive cognitive technology as a possible cause of suboptimal adoption and implementation in the clinical setting. Further, ethical concerns have been raised related to insufficient effectiveness, lack of adequate clinical validation, and user-centered design as well as data privacy vulnerabilities of current digital mental health products. The aim of this paper is to report on a scoping review we conducted to capture and synthesize the growing literature on the promises and ethical challenges of digital mental health for young people aged 0–25. This review seeks to survey the scope and focus of the relevant literature, identify major benefits and opportunities of ethical significance (e.g., reducing suffering and improving well-being), and provide a comprehensive mapping of the emerging ethical challenges. Our findings provide a comprehensive synthesis of the current literature and offer a detailed informative basis for any stakeholder involved in the development, deployment, and management of ethically-aligned digital mental health solutions for young people.

Trials ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 22 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Sophie D. Bennett ◽  
◽  
J. Helen Cross ◽  
Anna E. Coughtrey ◽  
Isobel Heyman ◽  
...  

Abstract Background Mental health disorders in the context of long-term conditions in children and young people are currently overlooked and undertreated. Evidence-based psychological treatments for common childhood mental health disorders (anxiety, depression and disruptive behaviour disorders) have not been systematically evaluated in young people with epilepsy despite their high prevalence in this population. The aim of this multi-site randomised controlled trial is to determine the clinical and cost-effectiveness of adding a modular psychological intervention to usual care for the mental health disorders in comparison to assessment-enhanced usual care alone. Methods In total, 334 participants aged 3–18 years attending epilepsy services will be screened for mental health disorders with the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ) and the diagnostic Development and Wellbeing Assessment (DAWBA). Those identified as having a mental health disorder and consenting to the trial will be randomised to either receive up to 22 sessions of the modular psychological intervention (MATCH-ADTC) delivered over the telephone over 6 months by non-mental health professionals in addition to usual care or to assessment-enhanced usual care alone. Outcomes will be measured at baseline, 6 months and 12 months post-randomisation. It is hypothesised that MATCH-ADTC plus usual care will be superior to assessment-enhanced usual care in improving emotional and behavioural symptoms. The primary outcome is the SDQ reported by parents at 6 months. Secondary outcomes include parent-reported mental health measures such as the Revised Children’s Anxiety and Depression Scale, quality of life measures such as the Paediatric Quality of Life Inventory and physical health measures such as the Hague Seizure Severity Scale. Outcome assessors will be blinded to group assignment. Qualitative process evaluations and a health economic evaluation will also be completed. Discussion This trial aims to determine whether a systematic and integrated approach to the identification and treatment of mental health disorders in children and young people with epilepsy is clinically and cost-effective. The findings will contribute to policies and practice with regard to addressing mental health needs in children and young people with other long-term conditions. Trial registration ISRCTN ISRCTN57823197. Registered on 25 February 2019.


2018 ◽  
Vol 15 ◽  
pp. 95-131 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kathryn Fortnum ◽  
Bonnie Furzer ◽  
Siobhan Reid ◽  
Ben Jackson ◽  
Catherine Elliott

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sasha Stark ◽  
Heather Wardle ◽  
Isabel Burdett

Purpose & Significance: Despite the popularity of lottery and scratchcards and some evidence of gambling problems among players, limited research focuses on the risks of lottery and scratchcard play and predictors of problems, especially among young people. The purpose of this project is to examine whether lottery and scratchcard participation is related to gambling problems among 16-24 year olds in Great Britain and whether general and mental health and gambling behaviours explain this relationship. Methodology: Samples of 16-24 year olds were pooled from the 2012, 2015, and 2016 Gambling in England and Scotland: Combined Data from the Health Survey for England and the Scottish Health Survey (n=3,454). Bivariate analyses and Firth method logistic regression were used to examine the relationship between past-year lottery and scratchcard participation and gambling problems, assessing the attenuating role of mental wellbeing, mental health disorders, self-assessed general health, and playing other games in past year. Results: There is a significant association between scratchcard play and gambling problems. The association somewhat attenuated but remained significant after taking into account wellbeing, mental health disorders, general health, and engagement in other gambling activities. Findings also show that gambling problems are further predicted by age (20-24 years), gender (male), lower wellbeing, and playing any other gambling games. Implications: Results are valuable for informing youth-focused education, decisions around the legal age for National Lottery products, and the development of safer gambling initiatives for high risk groups and behaviours, such as scratchcard play.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Victoria Welch ◽  
Tom Joshua Wy ◽  
Anna Ligezka ◽  
Leslie C. Hassett ◽  
Paul E. Croarkin ◽  
...  

BACKGROUND Mental health disorders across the life span are a leading cause of medical disabilities. This burden is particularly significant in children and adolescents due to challenges in diagnoses and lack of precision medicine approaches. The advent and widespread adoption of wearable devices (e.g., smartwatches) that generate large volumes of passively collected data that are conducive for artificial intelligence applications to remotely diagnose and manage child and adolescent mental health disorders is promising. OBJECTIVE This study conducted a scoping review to study, characterize and identify areas of innovations with wearable devices that can augment current in-person physician assessments to individualize diagnosis and management of mental health disorders in child and adolescent psychiatry. METHODS This scoping review used PRISMA’s information as a guide. A comprehensive search of several databases from 2011 to June 25, 2021, limited to English language and excluding animal studies, was conducted. The databases included Ovid MEDLINE (R) and Epub Ahead of Print, In-Process & Other Non-Indexed Citations and Daily, Ovid Embase, Ovid Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials, Ovid Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews, Web of Science, and Scopus. RESULTS The initial search yielded 344 articles. 19 articles were left on the final source list for this scoping review. Articles were divided into three main groups: Studies with the main focus on Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD), Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorders (ADHD) and Internalizing disorders such as anxiety disorders. Majority of the studies used either ECG strap or wrist worn biosensor. CONCLUSIONS Our scoping review found large heterogeneity of methods and findings in artificial intelligence studies in child psychiatry. Overall, the largest gaps identified in this scoping review are the lack of randomized control trials, most available studies are pilot feasibility trials.


Mental health is intrinsically linked to many paediatric disorders, and a good working knowledge of psychiatry is important for all clinicians working with children and young people. Prompt recognition and diagnosis of mental health disorders improve the chance of successful treatment, and the close working relationship between the fields of psychiatry and paediatrics is pivotal to this.


2018 ◽  
Vol 13 (4) ◽  
pp. 867-873 ◽  
Author(s):  
Asiel Yair Adan Sanchez ◽  
Elizabeth McMillan ◽  
Amit Bhaduri ◽  
Nancy Pehlivan ◽  
Katherine Monson ◽  
...  

2014 ◽  
Vol 26 (2) ◽  
pp. 283-292 ◽  
Author(s):  
Adrian Furnham ◽  
Jennifer Annis ◽  
Kalia Cleridou

Abstract Aim: This study explored the influence of gender on the mental health literacy (MHL) of young people. Method: In all, 370 young people (aged 17–22 years) completed one of two questionnaires, in which they had to label/provide a diagnosis for nine vignettes of people with different mental health disorders. Half the vignettes had a male and the other half had a female character. They also rated the vignette person on nine scales. Results: There was much variance in recognition for the different disorders, with a range of 77.0%–27.3% of participants “correctly” labeling the vignettes. Very few gender differences were found, but age and experience of/education in mental health were found to be positively correlated with MHL. Conclusion: Gender differences in MHL may not be as great as previously thought. Although some disorders were recognized by the majority of participants, there are still common disorders that were not.


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