SynthesisJournal of medical Internet research2021
Mechanisms of Change in Digital Health Interventions for Mental Disorders in Youth: Systematic Review.
Synthesis in Journal of medical Internet research, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 21 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
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.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
21 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 40 citations in OpenAlex.
- Internet- and mobile-based anxiety and depression interventions for children and adolescents: efficacy and negative effects - a systematic review and meta-analysis.European child & adolescent psychiatry · 2025Pooled it
- The Effect of Digital Mental Health Literacy Interventions on Mental Health: Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.Journal of medical Internet research · 2024Pooled it
- Identifying Active Ingredients that Cause Change in Digital Parent Training Programs for Child Behavior Problems: A Qualitative Exploration.Child psychiatry and human development · 2026Trial
- Evaluation of the effectiveness of Reframe-IT + to prevent suicidal ideation and other mental health outcomes among adolescents in Chile: 3-month, 6-month and 10-month follow-up.BMC psychology · 2026Trial
- A cognitive layer architecture to support large-language model performance in psychotherapy interactions.Nature medicine · 2026Trial
- An online randomised controlled trial to evaluate the effectiveness of an online intervention for parents/guardians of children aged 4-7 years old who are concerned about their children's emotional and behavioural development: EMERGENT study.Frontiers in psychology · 2026Trial
- A Personalized, Transdiagnostic Smartphone Intervention (Mello) Targeting Repetitive Negative Thinking in Young People With Depression and Anxiety: Pilot Randomized Controlled Trial.Journal of medical Internet research · 2023Trial
- Trial
- Willingness to use video-game or gamified application-based interventions to improve or strengthen emotional regulation, mental health, and mental well-being.Internet interventions · 2026Article
- Exploring and validating themes of the eHealth Therapeutic Alliance Inventory in digital health interventions: A qualitative analysis.Internet interventions · 2025Article
- Evidence based consensus statements for digital tools to address youth mental health literacy.Scientific reports · 2025Article
- Does human support add value to persuasive design-based digital mental health interventions? A propensity score matching study of a digital parenting program.Frontiers in digital health · 2025Article
- Multidisciplinary perspectives on personalised prevention in youth mental health.Frontiers in digital health · 2025Article
- Natural language processing in mixed-methods evaluation of a digital sleep-alcohol intervention for young adults.NPJ digital medicine · 2024Article
- Leveraging Natural Language Processing to Evaluate Young Adults' User Experiences with a Digital Sleep Intervention for Alcohol Use.Research square · 2024Article
- Psychological interventions for depression in children and adolescents: A bibliometric analysis.World journal of psychiatry · 2024Article
- Towards a youth mental health paradigm: a perspective and roadmap.Molecular psychiatry · 2023Review
- An Artificial Therapist (Manage Your Life Online) to Support the Mental Health of Youth: Co-Design and Case Series.JMIR human factors · 2023Article
- The role of digital transformation in addressing health inequalities in coastal communities: barriers and enablers.Frontiers in health services · 2023Review
- Unveiling mechanisms of change in digital interventions for depression: Study protocol for a systematic review and individual participant data meta-analysis.Frontiers in psychiatry · 2022Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
6 authors at 2 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundDigital health interventions (DHIs) are efficacious for several mental disorders in youth; however, integrated, evidence-based knowledge about the mechanisms of change in these interventions is lacking.
objectiveThis systematic review aims to comprehensively evaluate studies on mediators and mechanisms of change in different DHIs for common mental disorders in children and adolescents.
methodsA systematic literature search of the electronic databases Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials, Embase, MEDLINE, and PsycINFO was conducted, complemented by backward and forward searches. Two independent reviewers selected studies for inclusion, extracted the data, and rated the methodological quality of eligible studies (ie, risk of bias and 8 quality criteria for process research).
resultsA total of 25 studies that have evaluated 39 potential mediators were included in this review. Cognitive mediators were the largest group of examined intervening variables, followed by a broad range of emotional and affective, interpersonal, parenting behavior, and other mediators. The mediator categories with the highest percentages of significant intervening variables were the groups of affective mediators (4/4, 100%) and combined cognitive mediators (13/19, 68%). Although more than three-quarters of the eligible studies met 5 or more quality criteria, causal conclusions have been widely precluded.
conclusionsThe findings of this review might guide the empirically informed advancement of DHIs, contributing to improved intervention outcomes, and the discussion of methodological recommendations for process research might facilitate mediation studies with more pertinent designs, allowing for conclusions with higher causal certainty in the future.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.