Abstract
Background: Digital technologies play an increasingly important role in the lives of young people and have important effects on their mental health.
Objective: We aimed to explore 3 key areas of the intersection between digital technology and mental health: the views and experiences of young people and clinicians about digital technology and mental health; implementation and barriers to the UK national guidance recommendation—that the discussion of digital technology use should form a core part of mental health assessment; and how digital technology might be used to support existing consultations.
Methods: Two cross-sectional web-based surveys were conducted in 2020 between June and December, with mental health clinicians (n=99) and young people (n=320). Descriptive statistics were used to summarize the proportions. Multilinear regression was used to explore how the answers varied by gender, sexuality, and age. Thematic analysis was used to explore the contents of the extended free-text answers. Anxiety was measured using the Generalized Anxiety Disorder Questionnaire-7 (GAD-7).
Results: Digital technology use was ubiquitous among young people, with positive and negative aspects acknowledged by both clinicians and young people. Negative experiences were common (131/284, 46.1%) and were associated with increased anxiety levels among young people (GAD-7 3.29; 95% CI 1.97-4.61; P
Conclusions: Digital technology use was common, and negative experiences were frequent and associated with anxiety. Over a third of young people were not asked about their digital technology use during mental health consultations, and potentially valuable information about relevant negative experiences on the web was not being captured during consultations. Clinicians would benefit from having access to training to support these discussions with young people. Although young people recognized that app data could be helpful to clinicians, they appeared hesitant to share their own data. This finding suggests that data sharing has barriers that need to be further explored.
Objective: We aimed to explore 3 key areas of the intersection between digital technology and mental health: the views and experiences of young people and clinicians about digital technology and mental health; implementation and barriers to the UK national guidance recommendation—that the discussion of digital technology use should form a core part of mental health assessment; and how digital technology might be used to support existing consultations.
Methods: Two cross-sectional web-based surveys were conducted in 2020 between June and December, with mental health clinicians (n=99) and young people (n=320). Descriptive statistics were used to summarize the proportions. Multilinear regression was used to explore how the answers varied by gender, sexuality, and age. Thematic analysis was used to explore the contents of the extended free-text answers. Anxiety was measured using the Generalized Anxiety Disorder Questionnaire-7 (GAD-7).
Results: Digital technology use was ubiquitous among young people, with positive and negative aspects acknowledged by both clinicians and young people. Negative experiences were common (131/284, 46.1%) and were associated with increased anxiety levels among young people (GAD-7 3.29; 95% CI 1.97-4.61; P
Conclusions: Digital technology use was common, and negative experiences were frequent and associated with anxiety. Over a third of young people were not asked about their digital technology use during mental health consultations, and potentially valuable information about relevant negative experiences on the web was not being captured during consultations. Clinicians would benefit from having access to training to support these discussions with young people. Although young people recognized that app data could be helpful to clinicians, they appeared hesitant to share their own data. This finding suggests that data sharing has barriers that need to be further explored.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Article number | e44064 |
| Journal | JMIR Mental Health |
| Volume | 10 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - 17 Apr 2023 |
Bibliographical note
Funding Information:LB and PM were partly funded by the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) Applied Research Collaboration West. RR-Z (Academic Clinical Fellow, ACF-2021-17-018) was funded by the Health Education England/NIHR for this research project. The views expressed in this publication are those of the authors and not necessarily those of the NIHR, National Health Service, or the UK Department of Health and Social Care.
Publisher Copyright:
©Raphael Rifkin-Zybutz, Nicholas Turner, Jane Derges, Helen Bould, Felicity Sedgewick, Rachael Gooberman-Hill, Myles-Jay Linton, Paul Moran, Lucy Biddle. Originally published in JMIR Mental Health.
Research Groups and Themes
- SASH
- SoE Centre for Psychological Approaches for Studying Education
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