School of Planning, University of Waterloo, Waterloo, ON, Canada.
School of Public Health and Health Systems, University of Waterloo, Waterloo, ON, Canada.
J Med Internet Res. 2021 Jan 11;23(1):e16490. doi: 10.2196/16490.
Mental health disorders in youth are a global issue that have important implications for the future quality of life and morbidity of affected individuals. In the context of public health initiatives, smartphone-based interventions have been suggested to hold the potential to be an effective strategy to reduce the symptoms of mental health disorders in youth; however, further evaluation is needed to confirm their effectiveness. This systematic review and meta-analysis documents and synthesizes existing research on smartphone-based interventions targeting internalizing disorders in youth populations.
This study aims to synthesize existing research on smartphone-based interventions targeting internalizing disorders in youth populations.
PubMed and SCOPUS were searched in 2019, and 4334 potentially relevant articles were found. A total of 12 studies were included in the final synthesis. We used the Hedges g meta-analysis approach and a random effects model for analysis.
The results of this review note that depression and anxiety are the most commonly targeted symptoms, and unlike other similar topics, most studies reviewed were linked to a proven treatment. The overall pooled effect from the meta-analysis showed small but significant effects (κ=12; N=1370; Hedges g=0.20; 95% CI 0.02-0.38) for interventions in reducing the symptoms of internalizing disorders. In total, 4 subgroup analyses examining specific symptoms and intervention styles found varied small significant and nonsignificant effects.
Future research should focus on developing robust evaluative frameworks and examining interventions among more diverse populations and settings. More robust research is needed before smartphone-based interventions are scaled up and used at the population level to address youth internalizing disorders.
青少年心理健康障碍是一个全球性问题，对受影响个体未来的生活质量和发病率有重要影响。在公共卫生措施的背景下，基于智能手机的干预措施被认为具有潜在的有效性，可以作为减轻青少年心理健康障碍症状的策略；然而，需要进一步评估以确认其有效性。本系统评价和荟萃分析记录并综合了现有关于针对青少年人群内化障碍的基于智能手机的干预措施的研究。
本研究旨在综合现有关于针对青少年人群内化障碍的基于智能手机的干预措施的研究。
2019 年在 PubMed 和 SCOPUS 进行了检索，共发现了 4334 篇潜在相关的文章。共有 12 项研究纳入最终综合分析。我们使用 Hedges g 荟萃分析方法和随机效应模型进行分析。
本综述的结果表明，抑郁和焦虑是最常见的目标症状，与其他类似主题不同，大多数综述的研究都与经过验证的治疗方法相关联。荟萃分析的总体汇总效应表明，干预措施对减轻内化障碍症状有较小但显著的效果（κ=12；N=1370；Hedges g=0.20；95%CI 0.02-0.38）。共有 4 项亚组分析检查了特定症状和干预方式，发现了不同的小显著和非显著效果。
未来的研究应专注于开发强大的评估框架，并在更多样化的人群和环境中检验干预措施。在将基于智能手机的干预措施扩大并在人群层面用于解决青少年内化障碍之前，需要进行更有力的研究。
