SynthesisJournal of medical Internet research2025
Digital Mental Health Interventions for the Prevention and Treatment of Social Anxiety Disorder in Children, Adolescents, and Young Adults: Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of Randomized Controlled Trials.
Synthesis in Journal of medical Internet research, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 10 papers.
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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
10 citing papers in PubMed.
- Prevention and treatment of social anxiety disorder in adolescents: mixed method randomised controlled trial of the guided online intervention SOPHIE.Scientific reports · 2025Trial
- The Preliminary Efficacy and Feasibility of SMILE Serious Game for Adolescents and Young Adults: Protocol for Cluster Randomized Multisite Adaptive Trial Design.JMIR research protocols · 2026Article
- Digital Humanities in Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services: A Review.Children (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Review
- Efficacy of an internet-based version of the unified protocol for transdiagnostic treatment of emotional disorders in adolescents (iUP-A): A randomized active-controlled trial.Internet interventions · 2026Article
- Child and adolescent psychiatry: challenges, solutions, opportunities, and future directions.World psychiatry : official journal of the World Psychiatric Association (WPA) · 2026Article
- The role of AI companions in supporting adaptive emotion regulation among university students with social anxiety.Discover mental health · 2026Article
- Can physical exercise alleviate social anxiety in junior high school students by improving body image?Frontiers in psychology · 2026Article
- Article
- Article
- A systematic literature review of digital mental health interventions in providing support for children and their families.Digital healthReview
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Authors and funding
4 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundSocial anxiety disorder (SAD) substantially affects young individuals' social and academic functioning, emphasizing the need for accessible and effective treatments such as digital mental health interventions (DMHIs).
objectiveThis systematic review and meta-analysis aimed to evaluate the efficacy of DMHIs for children, adolescents, and young adults with social anxiety symptoms.
methodsFor this systematic review and meta-analysis, we searched 6 electronic databases (PsycINFO, Embase, MEDLINE, PSYNDEX, PubMed, and Web of Science) for randomized controlled trials investigating DMHIs addressing social anxiety in young people (mean age <25 years). Two authors independently screened the records, extracted data, and assessed the risk of bias. For data analysis, a standardized effect size was calculated using Hedges g, along with 95% CIs, for each study. Meta-analyses were conducted using a random-effects model to account for heterogeneity.
resultsThe systematic review included 22 studies, and the meta-analysis included 21 studies. The results significantly favored DMHIs (Hedges g=0.508, 95% CI 0.308-0.707; P<.001) over any control condition (ie, waitlist or active interventions) after the intervention, specifically those compared to waitlist control conditions (Hedges g=0.576, 95% CI 0.343-0.809; P<.001), those based on cognitive behavioral principles (Hedges g=0.610, 95% CI 0.361-0.859; P<.001), those incorporating SAD-specific components (Hedges g=0.878, 95% CI 0.469-1.278), and those delivered with human guidance (Hedges g=0.825, 95% CI 0.425-1.224; P<.001). Neither parental involvement nor age influenced outcomes significantly. When publication bias was considered, the overall effect remained significant (Hedges g=0.506, 95% CI 0.308-0.707). The risk-of-bias assessment indicated that most of the studies (16/22, 73%) showed some concerns; of the 22 studies, 3 (14%) were classified as high risk, and 3 (14%) were rated as low risk. The reporting of adherence varied substantially and could not be analyzed meta-analytically.
conclusionsThe meta-analysis supports the efficacy of DMHIs for social anxiety compared to control conditions and the beneficial effects of guidance and interventions specifically designed for SAD. Furthermore, it highlights methodological shortcomings and heterogeneous reporting standards. Future research should prioritize higher methodological quality and should explore how effects are related to age and specific intervention components, including guidance and treatment modules.
trial registrationPROSPERO CRD42023424181; https://www.crd.york.ac.uk/PROSPERO/view/CRD42023424181.
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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.