A systematic review of digital mental health interventions for students during the COVID-19 pandemic
Loading...
Date
2024
Authors
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Universty of the Western Cape
Abstract
Students are vulnerable to mental health conditions, due to the pressures associated with tertiary learning. Disruptions in the academic processes caused by the COVID-19 pandemic added to the pressure, which raised concern for students’ mental health, and the development of digital interventions to address their needs. Several digital interventions have come into existence, since the onset of the pandemic in 2019. Therefore, this current study was aimed at systematically reviewing existing digital mental health interventions for students during the COVID-19 pandemic, using a RE-AIM Framework, to evaluate their properties, and determine their efficacy. Consequently, the researcher employed a systematic review methodology to identify English, peer reviewed studies, published between January 2020 and April 2023, and focused on digital mental health interventions for students during the COVID 19 pandemic. Seven databases were accessed, namely, (1) Academic Search Complete, (2) Health Source: Nursing/Academic Edition, (3) Medline, (4) APA PsycArticles, (5) SosIndex with full text, (6) Sabinet and (7) PubMed. The following three levels of review were utilised to determine relevance and inclusion: (1) title screening; (2) abstract screening; and (3) full texts screening. Full text articles were critically appraised, using the RE-AIM appraisal tool. Eleven studies were deemed eligible for this current study.
Description
Keywords
Digital Mental Health, COVID-19 Pandemic, Digital Technologies, Effectiveness, Interventions