Abstract
Online psychological interventions have the potential to address many current issues facing service provision in child and adolescent mental health, not least improving access to evidence-based therapies and providing greater patient choice. Recognising this, the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) now recommend digitally delivered therapy in the treatment of depression in children and young people (CYP). However, despite the virtual ubiquity of technology in young people's lives, and good evidence that online treatments can be effective, there remain barriers to real-world implementation. We argue that remote therapist support and blended approaches to therapy will be important models in harnessing the potential of digital technology in CYP mental health.
Highlights
There is good evidence that digital interventions can be clinically effective
In the context of clinical trials, effect-sizes for short to medium term outcomes appear more-or-less equivalent to those seen in face-to-face treatment (Hollis et al, 2017)
Whilst the evidence base is currently largely restricted to CBT-based interventions for mild to moderate anxiety or depression, there has been growing attention to wider ranging conditions in CYP. This includes CBT-based programmes for PTSD, OCD, eating disorders and Tourette syndrome, parenting programmes for conduct and behavioural problems, and interventions tailored for CYP with neurodevelopmental disorders or physical health problems
Summary
There is good evidence that digital interventions can be clinically effective. Putting cost-implications aside, there is general agreement that some remote support with online interventions is better than none; in terms of clinical outcomes, even programmes with ‘minimal’ therapist contact yield higher effect sizes than pure self-help (Grist, 2019).
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