The Use of Noncommercial Parent-Focused mHealth Interventions for Behavioral Problems in Youth: Systematic Review

• Published in: JMIR mHealth and uHealth 2024-09, Vol.12, p.e51273
• Main Authors: Magnuson, Katherine I, Li, Kexin, Beuley, Grace, Ryan-Pettes, Stacy R
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Adolescent; Female; Humans; Intervention; Male; Parenting - psychology; Parents & parenting; Parents - education; Parents - psychology; Problem Behavior - psychology; Review; Substance-Related Disorders - psychology; Substance-Related Disorders - therapy; Teenagers; Telemedicine; Text messaging
• ISSN: 2291-5222; 2291-5222
• DOI: 10.2196/51273

The rates of substance use among adolescents are alarmingly high, and current treatment options lack integration of parent-focused interventions, despite evidence that effective parenting practices can mediate treatment outcomes for adolescents involved in substance use. Accessibility and other barriers to parental interventions may be mitigated through mobile health (mHealth); however, few mHealth platforms target substance use behaviors for adolescents through the implementation of behavioral parent training strategies. This study seeks to review current mHealth platforms within empirical literature that are designed to increase effective parenting through behavioral parent training techniques. Because of the paucity of mHealth modalities that use parenting strategies to target substance use in adolescents, the objective was expanded to include mHealth platforms addressing behavior problems among youth, given that parent-targeted treatments for these clinical presentations overlap with those for adolescent substance use. Overall, the systematic review was conducted to inform the development of mHealth apps for parents of youth involved in substance use, improve accessibility, and better align with parental needs. This systematic review was conducted using the PRISMA (Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses) method to select relevant articles across several databases. Each study was assessed for relevance and inclusion. Each study was reviewed for demographics, delivery medium, intervention status as stand-alone treatment or as an enhancement to treatment, mobile device used, mental health condition targeted, intervention type, underlying intervention theory, behavior change theory applied in design, behavior change techniques, parent training techniques, youth outcomes, parent outcomes, visual design, content, and features. Overall, 11 studies were included. Nearly all studies (9/11, 82%) predominantly sampled female caregivers. Most of the studies (6/11, 55%) integrated social learning theory. Only a few of the studies (2/11, 18%) discussed the embedded behavior change theories, whereas all the studies (11/11, 100%) used at least one behavior change technique to encourage change in parental behaviors. Many of the studies (7/11, 64%) tailored design features to the end user. Of the various behavioral parent training techniques, nearly all studies (10/11, 91%) included the skill of strengthening the parent-child relationship. A