iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Replies

Dr Lucy Foulkes @lucyfoulkes.bsky.social · 25/04/2025

This now joins a list of big, well-designed trials that show universal mental health interventions do not improve adolescent mental health (and indeed some show negative effects) BUT there is something important to note here: many young people didn't use the app much. i.e. engagement was low

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Dr Lucy Foulkes @lucyfoulkes.bsky.social · 25/04/2025

43% of participants didn't use the app *at all*. Only 22% even completed 4 of the 7 modules. This is also not new. Lots of other trials also show us, using quant and qual data, that adolescents don't much like universal interventions, and don't do the tasks/homework (I can share refs if helpful)

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CarolineJMolloy @carolinejmolloy.bsky.social · 30/04/2025

Am I right in assuming there’s a fairly heavy overlap between this and the fact that digital interventions generally have a high drop out rate? pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/31969272/

pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

Dropout rates in clinical trials of smartphone apps for depressive symptoms: A systematic review and meta-analysis - PubMed

High dropout rates present a threat to the validity of RCTs of mental health apps. Strategies to improve retention may include providing human feedback, and enabling in-app mood monitoring. However, i...

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Dr Lucy Foulkes @lucyfoulkes.bsky.social · 25/04/2025

So this study isn't even really showing that CBT doesn't work for reducing depression, as such -- it's showing that young people don't want to engage with a CBT app for reducing depression. This isn't surprising really - young people are busy and tired and want to relax in their free time

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