A review of youth mental health promotion apps towards their fit with youth media preferences

Abstract

INTRODUCTION: Mental health promotion apps can promote youth mental health but fail to engage young people. Fit to young people’s media preferences is known to mediate engagement. OBJECTIVES: To explore the fit of existing youth mental health apps with young people’s media preferences. METHODS: A workshop with 60 youth psychologists elicits designs of digital mental health interventions. A review of 29 youth mental health apps unpacks their modality strategies. We then compare modality strategies from literature on youth mental health, media preferences and engagement, and from the experts, with strategies in current mental health apps to identify potential fit problems. RESULTS: There is a mismatch between young people’s modality preferences and how youth mental health apps deliver their content. CONCLUSION: There is a need to make youth mental health promotion apps more interactive and tailorable, featuring dynamic visuals and social connectivity, to better engage youth.