Digital Tools Can Support Young People’s Mental Well-Being – but Human Contact Still Matters
Key Takeaways:
- A York University-led review of 57 studies and more than 40,000 participants finds digital tools can improve young people’s emotional, behavioural, social and cognitive well-being.
- Hybrid models, pairing digital delivery with in-person contact, were the most consistently effective, with benefits sustained at follow-up.
- The evidence base has serious gaps: children from marginalised communities and those aged 0 to 4 are strikingly underrepresented.
Why this review matters
Children and young people are growing up with rising mental health challenges in an increasingly digital world, and those from marginalised communities carry a disproportionate share of that burden. Digital mental health tools have been promoted for years as a way to close the gap, on the assumption that anything delivered through a screen can reach further, faster and more cheaply than traditional services. Until now, the evidence for universal digital and hybrid interventions had never been pulled together and appraised as a whole.
A new landmark systematic review and meta-analysis led by researchers at York University changes that. Examining the effectiveness of universal digital mental health interventions, the study finds that digital tools can positively influence young people’s emotional, behavioural, social and cognitive well-being. The study is currently available online.
What the review examined
The review synthesised 57 peer-reviewed research articles and included data from more than 40,000 participants worldwide. Rather than focusing on interventions aimed at children and young people already identified as needing clinical support, it looked specifically at universal interventions, that is, those offered to whole populations regardless of individual risk. That distinction matters for anyone planning services at scale, because universal provision is where digital delivery is most often proposed as a solution.
The research was led by York University Faculty of Health Professor Rebecca Pillai Riddell, a nationally recognised expert in clinical psychology, alongside York postdoctoral fellow Kaitlin Di Pierdomenico.
“This study is the first of its kind to synthesize universal digital and hybrid interventions for child and youth mental health,” says Pillai Riddell. “It’s clear that digital tools must be embraced but only if we implement them thoughtfully, equitably, and with real-world contexts in mind. We need to invest in research that includes the children most often left behind.”
Hybrid delivery outperformed fully digital approaches
The clearest signal in the analysis was that hybrid models, those that combine digital delivery with some in-person engagement, emerged as the most consistently effective approach. Moderate-certainty evidence supported sustained benefits across multiple psychological domains at follow-up, meaning the gains did not simply disappear once the intervention ended.
This finding pushes back against the assumption that a fully virtual programme is a straightforward substitute for one delivered face to face. The technology appears to work best when it is wrapped around human contact rather than used to replace it.
“This work looked at whether digital mental health tools help, under what conditions, and whose data we actually have,” says Di Pierdomenico. “Hybrid approaches, pairing digital tools with in-person structure, held up better over time than fully virtual ones. We also found real gaps, including underreporting of participant demographics and limited inclusion of younger children and marginalized populations, that matter so universal tools are developed to actually reach all children and youth.”
Benefits across four psychological domains
The analysis revealed significant improvements across emotional, behavioural, social and cognitive psychological domains. Effects were most consistent and most sustainable when digital tools were embedded in supportive, structured settings such as schools.
The implication for commissioners and practitioners is that the delivery context is not incidental to the outcome. A well-designed app or online programme placed into an environment with adults who can prompt, reinforce and follow up appears to perform differently from the same tool handed to a young person to use alone.
That emphasis on structured human contact places renewed weight on the interpersonal skills practitioners bring to digitally supported care. It is the ground covered by CCH’s Behaviour Change Skills – Complete Package, a set of three online CPD short courses in person-centred communication, enhancing motivation and applying CBT in practice, worth six CPD hours in total.
Significant gaps in who the evidence represents
Alongside the positive findings, the study highlights a striking underrepresentation of research involving marginalised populations and younger children aged 0 to 4. This raises concerns about equity and inclusion in the current evidence base.
Two problems compound each other here. The first is straightforward absence: if the youngest children and those from marginalised communities are rarely included in trials, there is no reliable basis for claiming that universal tools work for them. The second is underreporting of participant demographics, which makes it difficult even to establish who has and has not been studied. Universal interventions are, by definition, meant to reach everyone, so evidence drawn from a narrow and poorly described sample is a weak foundation for population-wide rollout.
A national partnership behind the research
The York researchers worked with Strong Minds Strong Kids, Psychology Canada (SMSKPC) for the study, a national charity that promotes children’s mental well-being through psychological science.
“Our history has always been about promoting mental health. This research reinforces the urgency to get promotion right – and get it to the children who need it most,” says Anne Lovegrove, President and Executive Director of SMSKPC and a co-author on the study. “We undertook this study not only to inform our own work but to guide the entire sector toward what actually works in a rapidly changing digital landscape.”
The project was also generously supported by philanthropy from the Jackman Foundation, a longtime champion of youth mental health and of SMSKPC and York University.
What this means for practice
For practitioners and service planners, the review offers a more nuanced brief than either uncritical enthusiasm or blanket scepticism about digital mental health. Digital tools have a demonstrable place in supporting young people’s well-being. They appear to work best when paired with in-person structure, embedded in settings that already provide routine and relationships, and supported by adults who can hold the human side of the intervention.
Equally, the gaps identified in the evidence are a caution against assuming that a tool shown to help one group will help another. Extending reach is only meaningful if the children and young people who are currently least well served are actually included, both in the interventions themselves and in the research that evaluates them.
The full study, Universal Digital Mental Health Interventions for Children and Youth: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis, is available open access via npj Digital Medicine.
CCH insight
The strongest finding in this review is that digital tools worked best when paired with human contact and structure. That places the quality of practitioner conversations at the centre of digitally supported care.
CCH’s Behaviour Change Skills – Complete Package brings together three online CPD short courses – Person-Centred Communication, Enhancing Motivation, and Applying CBT in Practice – for six CPD UK hours. It is 100% online, self-paced, and accredited by The CPD Certification Service.
Explore Behaviour Change Skills – Complete Package
Read More
Digital Health Tools Show Early Promise for Infant Feeding and Sleep, UMass Chan Research Finds
Key Takeaways:
- Families who completed three or more visits with the virtual feeding service SimpliFed provided breast milk for nearly 16 weeks longer than those who did not use it.
- Infants whose parents engaged most actively with the AI-powered sleep app Huckleberry slept around 90 minutes longer during their longest overnight stretch.
- Lower uptake among Spanish-speaking and publicly insured families underlines the need to make digital health support equitable rather than exclusionary.
Studying whether technology can support new parents
Researchers at UMass Chan Medical School are investigating whether digital tools for infant feeding, sleep and other early parenting challenges can improve health outcomes and widen access to support for families.
Among them is Nisha Fahey, DO, MSc’21, assistant professor of pediatrics and principal investigator on research examining how digital health interventions can support families during the critical first year of a child’s life. Dr Fahey has led two pilot studies evaluating virtual lactation support and an artificial intelligence–powered infant sleep application, carried out in collaboration with the Department of Medicine’s Program in Digital Medicine. That programme is led by Apurv Soni, MD, PhD’21, assistant professor of medicine and the programme’s co-director, who serves as multiprincipal investigator on the work.
As a paediatrician, Dr Fahey hears the same questions from new parents every day: Is my baby feeding enough? Are they sleeping enough? And where can I turn for help when I need it?
“These technologies already exist. Families are accessing them and using them,” said Fahey. “As researchers and healthcare providers, it’s our responsibility to understand their impact and think about how they can be integrated into healthcare in a way that is equitable and reaches all families.”
Virtual feeding support and longer breastfeeding
The first study examined SimpliFed, a virtual infant-feeding support platform that gives families on-demand access to certified lactation consultants and feeding specialists. Researchers enrolled 200 pregnant and postpartum individuals through UMass Memorial Health’s obstetrics clinics and followed them through the first year of their infant’s life.
The study assessed infant growth and development, maternal mental health, healthcare utilisation and feeding practices. Researchers found that participants who completed three or more visits with SimpliFed provided breast milk for nearly 16 weeks longer than participants who did not use the service.
The findings also drew attention to important equity considerations. Uptake was lower among Spanish-speaking families and among publicly insured participants, underscoring the need to ensure that digital health interventions reach populations that have historically faced barriers to care.
“If health systems are going to deploy these tools broadly, we need to pay special attention to making sure all patients and families can access them,” Fahey said. “The goal is to close gaps in care, not widen them.”
An AI sleep app and longer overnight rest
A second pilot study evaluated Huckleberry, a mobile app that allows parents to track infant sleep and uses artificial intelligence to predict optimal nap and bedtime schedules. This study was funded by an NIH grant focused on point-of-care technologies for heart, lung, blood and sleep disorders.
The study enrolled approximately 80 families with infants under 12 months who are beneficiaries of UMass Memorial’s MassHealth Accountable Care Organization. Participants used the app for three months while researchers tracked engagement and measured infant sleep, parental sleep and parental mental health.
Among families who engaged most actively with the app, infants experienced longer consolidated overnight sleep. Researchers found that infants in the high-engagement group slept approximately 90 minutes longer during their longest stretch of overnight sleep, compared with participants who used the app less frequently.
The researchers also found that families in a population often underrepresented in digital health research were willing and able to engage with the technology. About half of participants were classified as highly engaged users, and most reported that they found the app useful and would recommend it to other families.
Recognising the limitations
The studies also revealed some limitations. While many families reported positive experiences, others described challenges with tracking data consistently or navigating app features while caring for a young infant.
For Dr Fahey, those findings reinforce the importance of viewing digital health as a complement to, rather than a replacement of, traditional care.
“Digital technologies offer an on-demand pathway for information and support,” she said. “The goal is to make both digital and in-person care as accessible as possible and empower families to choose what works best for them.”
Building evidence for the future of care
The research was made possible through collaborations across UMass Chan, including faculty in the Program in Digital Medicine, the Department of Obstetrics & Gynecology, the Department of Psychiatry & Behavioral Health, and the Department of Pediatrics.
“Parents are seeking out digital health apps on their own,” Fahey said. “Building evidence around their benefits and understanding their limitations helps us determine whether they can become trusted parts of care in the future.”
Source: UMass Chan Medical School
Read More