TY  - JOUR
AU  - Buttazzoni, Adrian
AU  - Brar, Keshbir
AU  - Minaker, Leia
PY  - 2021
DA  - 2021/1/11
TI  - Smartphone-Based Interventions and Internalizing Disorders in Youth: Systematic Review and Meta-analysis
JO  - J Med Internet Res
SP  - e16490
VL  - 23
IS  - 1
KW  - mental health
KW  - meta-analysis
KW  - mobile phone
KW  - smartphone
KW  - systematic review
KW  - youth
AB  - Background: 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. Objective: This study aims to synthesize existing research on smartphone-based interventions targeting internalizing disorders in youth populations. Methods: 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. Results: 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. Conclusions: 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. 
SN  - 1438-8871
UR  - http://www.jmir.org/2021/1/e16490/
UR  - https://doi.org/10.2196/16490
UR  - http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/33427682
DO  - 10.2196/16490
ID  - info:doi/10.2196/16490
ER  -