Prevention and Health Promotion Interventions for Young People in the Context of Digital Well-Being: Rapid Systematic Review

2024

Prevention and Health Promotion Interventions for Young People in the Context of Digital Well-Being

Sample size: 41 publication 10 minutes Evidence: moderate

Author Information

Author(s): Eysenbach Gunther, Selkie Ellen, Kang Harmeet Kaur, Colder Carras Michelle, Aljuboori Dahlia, Shi Jing, Date Mayank, Karkoub Fatima, García Ortiz Karla, Abreha Fasika Molla, Thrul Johannes

Primary Institution: Johns Hopkins University

Hypothesis

What health promotion and prevention interventions have been used to promote digital well-being and prevent problematic digital media and technology use in children, adolescents, and youth?

Conclusion

Interventions to prevent problematic technology use and promote digital well-being show positive findings for effectiveness, but understanding context factors and limitations of the current evidence is vital for future research.

Supporting Evidence

Most interventions combined approaches and included an education component.
Synthesis through vote counting showed benefits for all forms of digital well-being.
Both included meta-analyses reported small positive effects on reductions of screen time.
Understanding context factors is vital for evaluating what might work to prevent problematic digital media use.
Future research should follow appropriate reporting guidelines and include details on benefits and harms.

Takeaway

This study looked at ways to help kids use technology in a healthy way and found that many programs can help reduce problems like too much screen time.

Methodology

A rapid systematic review was conducted, synthesizing recent literature on prevention interventions targeting children, adolescents, and youth, focusing on contextual factors and translatability.