Promising Interventions in Addressing Youth Mental Health

Background and Purpose: The World Health Organization (2020) identified that one in five adolescents experience a mental health disorder each year, and over 50% of all mental health conditions started before the age of 14. There has been a steady increase in the use of mood and anxiety medication by children and youth ages 5 to 24; with nearly one in four hospitalizations specifically for children and youth mental health issues (Canadian Institute for Health Information, 2020). The purpose of this scoping review is to identify and review the empirical evidence of promising non-medical, outpatient, community-based interventions that addresses youth mental health.

Methods: This scoping review followed Arksey and O’Malley’s (2005) framework and the PRISMA-ScR reporting guidelines (Peters et al., 2020; Tricco et al., 2018). Eleven electronic databases (Education Research Complete, ERIC, Academic Search Complete, CINAHL Plus, Family Studies Abstract, Social Work Abstracts, SocINDEX, LGBTQ+ Source, Medline, APA PsycINFO, Social Service Abstract) were used to search for peer reviewed primary research published between January 2006 and June 2020. The keywords used for the population (e.g., adolescent, youth, or teenager), intervention (e.g., mental health service, promotion, or support) and outcome (e.g., wellness, resilience, self-efficacy) were expanded and refined based on the keywords/subject headings in each database. Three cycles of screening were completed: 1) title and abstract screening, 2) initial full-text review, and 3) in-depth full-text review. This process yielded 20 studies that were focused on the efficacy of social programs or direct practice interventions aimed at addressing youth mental health.

Results: Among the 20 articles, half of them were conducted in the USA, four from Australia, two from the UK, and one each from Canada, Ghana, New Zealand, and Spain. Quantitative research design was used in the majority (n=16) of the studies, of which, six were pre-post randomized control studies, five correlational survey studies, two quasi-experimental designs, and one pre-experimental pre-post design. The issues that were addressed were general mental health and well-being (n=7), anxiety and/or depression (n=6), resilience/strength/coping abilities (n=4), promoting social support or interpersonal relationships (n=3), and alcohol or substance use (n=2). A wide variety of interventions were identified, including meditation or mindfulness program/intervention (n=3), sports/physical activity-based programs (n=3), arts-based intervention (n=2), and nurse-led interventions (n=2). A quarter of the interventions were school-based programs or settings (n=5). Two interventions were drop-in; while others had pre-determined schedules; some interventions were time limited while a quarter of the studies did not report the duration. Overall, there were fragmented details presented in the studies to adequately comprehend the program or practice interventions to address youth mental health.

Conclusions and Implications: Overall, the studies demonstrated promising positive outcomes for participants who received mental health interventions. However, the variances in intervention models and their implementation, research design, measurement, and sample, makes it difficult to compare the interventions. Researchers and practitioners with interest in specialized areas of youth mental health or treatment modalities or intervention settings might consider a narrower scope of research to more effectively assess the state of evidence for their practice area.