ArticleBJPsych open2018
An online survey of young adolescent girls' use of the internet and smartphone apps for mental health support.
Article in BJPsych open, 2018. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 23 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
What it found
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The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
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Who cites it
23 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.
- The Empowering Role of Web-Based Help Seeking on Depressive Symptoms: Systematic Review and Meta-analysis.Journal of medical Internet research · 2023Pooled it
- Acceptability, use and safety of the BlueIce self-harm prevention app: qualitative findings from the Beating Adolescent Self-Harm (BASH) randomised controlled trial.BMJ mental health · 2024Trial
- Pharmacological and Non-Pharmacological Interventions for Non-Suicidal Self-Injury: A Narrative Review.Alpha psychiatry · 2026Review
- Peer-Mediated Digital Awareness Among Adolescents: Insights from a CAWI-Based Assessment at the European Researchers' Night.Behavioral sciences (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Article
- Parentification and the family system in female adolescents of the second year of high school.BMC pediatrics · 2025Article
- How mental health status and attitudes toward mental health shape AI Acceptance in psychosocial care: a cross-sectional analysis.BMC psychology · 2025Article
- Applying user-centred techniques and expert feedback to refine an AI-based app for addressing mobile gaming addiction in adolescents.Dialogues in health · 2025Article
- Facilitators and Barriers to Digital Mental Health Interventions for Depression, Anxiety, and Stress in Adolescents and Young Adults: Scoping Review.Journal of medical Internet research · 2025Article
- The stress of prioritizing the future: using video diaries and interviews to understand the everyday pressures experienced by adolescent girls.International journal of adolescence and youth · 2025Article
- Mental health challenges and resilience strategies of Indigenous youth citizen scientists living in rural areas during COVID-19 school closures.PLOS mental health · 2025Article
- Problematic Social Media Use Among Italian Midadolescents: Protocol and Rationale of the SMART Project.JMIR research protocols · 2024Article
- A collaborative realist review of remote measurement technologies for depression in young people.Nature human behaviour · 2024Review
- Exploring Adolescents' Attitudes Toward Mental Health Apps: Concurrent Mixed Methods Study.JMIR formative research · 2024Article
- Article
- Attitudes of Children, Adolescents, and Their Parents Toward Digital Health Interventions: Scoping Review.Journal of medical Internet research · 2023Article
- Prevalence, attitudes and concerns toward telepsychiatry and mobile health self-management tools among patients with mental disorders during and after the COVID-19 pandemic: a nationwide survey in Poland from 2020 to 2023.Frontiers in psychiatry · 2023Article
- Effects of COVID-19 on Adolescent Mental Health and Internet Use by Ethnicity and Gender: A Mixed-Method Study.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2022Article
- How do digital lives affect resident mental health in the digital era? Empirical evidence based on Chinese general social survey.Frontiers in public health · 2022Article
- Mobile technology access and use among youth in Nairobi, Kenya: implications for mobile health intervention design.mHealth · 2022Article
- mHealth for the Monitoring of Brace Compliance and Wellbeing in Adolescents with Idiopathic Scoliosis: Study Protocol for a Feasibility Study.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2021Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
5 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundAdolescents are digital natives, with the majority now owning their own smartphones and having internet access. Although the internet and smartphone applications (apps) can provide mental health support, little is known about how young adolescents use digital technology for mental health purposes. There are many digital health resources available for young people, but the assumption that they will be open to use them has been largely untested.
aimsWe aimed to explore how adolescents with and without raised symptoms of anxiety, depression and problematic eating use the internet on smartphones/tablets and mental health apps.
methodThe Bristol Online Survey tool was used to deliver an online survey to 775 girls aged 11-16 years, attending a state-funded secondary school in the south-west of England. The survey was completed in class during the winter term of 2017.
resultsA total of 98.7 and 97.4% used the internet and apps, respectively, although only 6% had used any mental health apps. Of those with raised mental health symptoms, 15-17% used or were using a mental health app, with 48.5% reporting that they would not use a mental health app.
conclusionsYoung female adolescents are avid users of the internet and apps but are not using digital technology for mental health purposes. Addressing concerns about digital technology are necessary to maximise the effect it can have on child and adolescent mental health. DECLARATION OF INTEREST: None.
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