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Special Issue Editors

Prof. Dr. Eduardo Bunge
E-Mail Website
Guest Editor

Children and Adolescents Psychotherapy and Technology Research Lab, Palo Alto University, Palo Alto, CA 94304, USA
Interests: child and adolescent psychotherapy; integration of technology; behavioral interventions technologies; digital interventions

Dr. Blanca Pineda
E-Mail Website
Guest Editor

Institute for International Internet Interventions for Health (i4Health), Palo Alto University, Palo Alto, CA 94304, USA
Interests: internet interventions; digital interventions; integration of technology; behavioral intervention technologies

Ms. Taylor N. Stephens
E-Mail Website

SciProfiles

Guest Editor

Children and Adolescents Psychotherapy and Technology Research Lab, Palo Alto University, Palo Alto, CA 94304, USA
Interests: pediatric psychology; comorbid mental health and medical conditions; health psychology; integration of technology; behavioral intervention technologies; pediatric wellbeing

Dr. Naira Topooco
E-Mail
Guest Editor

1. Internet, Health and clinical psychology research group, Linköping University, Linköping 581 83, Sweden;
2. Visiting researcher at Center for m2Health, Palo Alto University, Palo Alto, CA 94304, USA
Interests: development and evaluation of accessible online- and ‘blended’ behavioral intervention for treating common mental health disorders in adolescents and young adults

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

The integration and use of technology and digital interventions are growing rapidly in psychology. When treating children and adolescents, and tranisitional age youth, technology can bridge the gap between the staggering need for treatment in this population and the low rates of treatment utilization. Technology and digital interventions can provide alternative or adjunct methods to support patients, while addressing and potentially ameliorating these barriers. This has become even more crucial during the current global pandemic (COVID-19), when many clinicians are forced to utilize creative strategies to reach their patients remotely.

The purpose of this Special Issue entitled "Technological Approaches for the Treatment of Mental Health in Youth” is to invite papers that focus on how technology can be used to support the treatment of mental health in youth. This includes the use of behavioral intervention technologies (BITs) such as wearable devices, mobile phone apps, chatbots, video games, artificial intelligence, virtual reality, augmented reality, passive data, and any other digital platforms.

We welcome contributions from all the social sciences and interdisciplinary approaches. Articles can have theoretically and methodologically diverse approaches and can cover the idea of technological/digital approaches when treating child and adolescent mental health from conceptual, empirical, policy, and/or practice perspectives. In particular, the Special Issue is seeking empirical articles but also welcomes meta-analyses, systematic reviews, conceptual, or practice/intervention implementation papers.

We welcome articles that address the following criteria:

The study involves the use of technology;
The study targets mental health, or well-being, or pain, or comorbid mental/medical conditions;
Technology format/platform/intervention is applied to or utilized by human beings;
Technology is used to inform OR conduct the intervention, treatment, or program for a mental health condition;
Technology is used as the format/platform to assess a mental health disorder, mental health condition, or well-being.

Prof. Dr. Eduardo Bunge
Ms. Taylor N. Stephens
Dr. Blanca Pineda
Dr. Naira Topooco
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All papers will be peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a double-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Social Sciences is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 1200 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

Technology
Behavioral intervention technologies (BITs)
Digital interventions
Psychotherapy
therapeutic interventions
treatment
Mental health
Youth: children and adolescents

Published Papers (2 papers)

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Research

Open AccessArticle

The Role of Human Support on Engagement in an Online Depression Prevention Program for Youth

Julia Rogers

Tracy Gladstone

Benjamin Van Voorhees

and

Eduardo L. Bunge

Soc. Sci. 2021, 10(8), 285; https://doi.org/10.3390/socsci10080285 - 27 Jul 2021

Viewed by 832

Abstract

Background: Depression is a significant public health problem for adolescents. The goal of this study was to evaluate the moderating role of human support in an online depression prevention program on both depression outcomes and overall engagement with the intervention. CATCH-IT is an Internet-based depression prevention program that has been shown to reduce symptoms for adolescents who report elevated depression symptom scores, compared to a health education (HE) control group. Participants in the CATCH-IT arm received human support (e.g., motivational interviewing, completed contacts). This study analyzes the moderating role of human support on depressive outcomes and engagement, and examines if engagement predicts depression outcomes. Methods: This secondary analysis consists of a randomized controlled trial for adolescents assigned to the CATCH-IT group. Mixed effects modeling, general linear models, and an exploratory multiple linear regression were used to explore the moderating relationship of human support between intervention and overall engagement. Study variables included depression outcomes (e.g., Center for Epidemiological Studies Depression Scale (CESD)), engagement components (e.g., modules completed, time on the site, and characters typed) and human support (e.g., motivational interviews and completed contacts.) Results: Results showed no significant relationship between contacts, motivational interviews, and depression scores. However, motivational interviews increased engagement with the intervention, such that those who received more motivational interviews completed significantly more modules, spent more time on the site, and typed more characters (p < 0.05). The number of contacts increased engagement with the intervention, and those who received more contacts spent more time on the site and typed more characters (p < 0.05). Exploratory multiple linear regression modeling demonstrated that male, African American/Black, and Hispanic/Latinx users were less engaged compared to other users. Lastly, engagement was not a significant predictor of depression outcomes (p > 0.05). Conclusions: The efficacy of CATCH-IT is not better explained by the degree to which participants received doses of human support from providers during the use of this online intervention. This may reveal the high potential of effective online interventions without the blended integration of human support for adolescents. To increase engagement of adolescents with an online depression prevention program, human support may be more efficient when utilizing MI rather than technical support. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Technological Approaches for the Treatment of Mental Health in Youth)

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Open AccessArticle

Digital Overload among College Students: Implications for Mental Health App Use

Marie-Laure Firebaugh

Katherine N. Balantekin

Naira Topooco

Denise E. Wilfley

C. Barr Taylor

and

Ellen E. Fitzsimmons-Craft

Soc. Sci. 2021, 10(8), 279; https://doi.org/10.3390/socsci10080279 - 21 Jul 2021

Viewed by 990

Abstract

Mental health phone applications (apps) provide cost-effective, easily accessible support for college students, yet long-term engagement is often low. Digital overload, defined as information burden from technological devices, may contribute to disengagement from mental health apps. This study aimed to explore the influence of digital overload and phone use preferences on mental health app use among college students, with the goal of informing how notifications could be designed to improve engagement in mental health apps for this population. A semi-structured interview guide was developed to collect quantitative data on phone use and notifications as well as qualitative data on digital overload and preferences for notifications and phone use. Interview transcripts from 12 college students were analyzed using thematic analysis. Participants had high daily phone use and received large quantities of notifications. They employed organization and management strategies to filter information and mitigate the negative effects of digital overload. Digital overload was not cited as a primary barrier to mental health app engagement, but participants ignored notifications for other reasons. Findings suggest that adding notifications to mental health apps may not substantially improve engagement unless additional factors are considered, such as users’ motivation and preferences. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Technological Approaches for the Treatment of Mental Health in Youth)

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