Cited by 528Child and Adolescent Psychosocial and Emotional DevelopmentDigital Mental Health InterventionsMental Health Treatment and Access

The DOI matches its Crossref record; 72 of the 74 references it cites were found in a registry or an index; none of the 107 sources its claims cite is checked for support yet.

Interventions for Adolescent Mental Health: An Overview of Systematic Reviews

Open access

Abstract

Many mental health disorders emerge in late childhood and early adolescence and contribute to the burden of these disorders among young people and later in life. We systematically reviewed literature published up to December 2015 to identify systematic reviews on mental health interventions in adolescent population. A total of 38 systematic reviews were included. We classified the included reviews into the following categories for reporting the findings: school-based interventions (n = 12); community-based interventions (n = 6); digital platforms (n = 8); and individual-/family-based interventions (n = 12). Evidence from school-based interventions suggests that targeted group-based interventions and cognitive behavioral therapy are effective in reducing depressive symptoms (standard mean difference [SMD]: -.16; 95% confidence interval [CI]: -.26 to -.05) and anxiety (SMD: -.33; 95% CI: -.59 to -.06). School-based suicide prevention programs suggest that classroom-based didactic and experiential programs increase short-term knowledge of suicide (SMD: 1.51; 95% CI: .57-2.45) and knowledge of suicide prevention (SMD: .72; 95% CI: .36-1.07) with no evidence of an effect on suicide-related attitudes or behaviors. Community-based creative activities have some positive effect on behavioral changes, self-confidence, self-esteem, levels of knowledge, and physical activity. Evidence from digital platforms supports Internet-based prevention and treatment programs for anxiety and depression; however, more extensive and rigorous research is warranted to further establish the conditions. Among individual- and family-based interventions, interventions focusing on eating attitudes and behaviors show no impact on body mass index (SMD: -.10; 95% CI: -.45 to .25); Eating Attitude Test (SMD: .01; 95% CI: -.13 to .15); and bulimia (SMD: -.03; 95% CI: -.16 to .10). Exercise is found to be effective in improving self-esteem (SMD: .49; 95% CI: .16-.81) and reducing depression score (SMD: -.66; 95% CI: -1.25 to -.08) with no impact on anxiety scores. Cognitive behavioral therapy compared to waitlist is effective in reducing remission (odds ratio: 7.85; 95% CI: 5.31-11.6). Psychological therapy when compared to antidepressants have comparable effect on remission, dropouts, and depression symptoms. The studies evaluating mental health interventions among adolescents were reported to be very heterogeneous, statistically, in their populations, interventions, and outcomes; hence, meta-analysis could not be conducted in most of the included reviews. Future trials should also focus on standardized interventions and outcomes for synthesizing the exiting body of knowledge. There is a need to report differential effects for gender, age groups, socioeconomic status, and geographic settings since the impact of mental health interventions might vary according to various contextual factors.

Overview

AI snapshot

Written from the paper’s full text.

TL;DR

This overview of 38 systematic reviews found that school-based CBT and targeted group interventions reduce depressive and anxiety symptoms, while school-based suicide prevention mainly improves short-term knowledge without changing suicide-related attitudes or behaviors. Digital, community, and individual-/family-based interventions show some promise, but heterogeneity and limited long-term data prevent firm conclusions.

Key findings

  • School-based CBT reduced depressive symptoms (SMD: −.16; 95% CI: −.26 to −.05) and anxiety (SMD: −.33; 95% CI: −.59 to −.06); school-based suicide prevention increased short-term knowledge of suicide (SMD: 1.51; 95% CI: .57–2.45) and knowledge of suicide prevention (SMD: .72; 95% CI: .36–1.07), with no evidence of effect on suicide-related attitudes or behaviors.
  • Community-based person-plus-environment interventions (SMD: .27; 95% CI: .16–.37) and environment-only interventions (SMD: .38; 95% CI: .15–.60) had significant positive mental health impacts, whereas person-only interventions did not (SMD: .03; 95% CI: −.19 to .25).
  • Digital platforms supported Internet-based prevention and treatment programs for anxiety and depression, but the review states more extensive and rigorous research is warranted.
  • Among individual-/family-based interventions, eating-attitude/behavior programs showed no impact on BMI (SMD: −.10; 95% CI: −.45 to .25), Eating Attitude Test (SMD: .01; 95% CI: −.13 to .15), or bulimia (SMD: −.03; 95% CI: −.16 to .10); exercise improved self-esteem (SMD: .49; 95% CI: .16–.81) and reduced depression score (SMD: −.66; 95% CI: −1.25 to −.08) with no impact on anxiety; CBT versus waitlist reduced remission (OR: 7.85; 95% CI: 5.31–11.6).

Methods

  • Systematic review of literature published up to December 2015, searching Cochrane Library and PubMed for systematic reviews on interventions to prevent and manage mental health disorders in adolescents, defined as ages 11–19 years, with exceptions for reviews also targeting youth aged 15–24 years.
  • Included 38 systematic reviews, categorized as school-based (n = 12), community-based (n = 6), digital platforms (n = 8), and individual-/family-based (n = 12); data were extracted independently, pooled effect sizes with 95% CIs were recorded, and review quality was assessed using AMSTAR.
  • Meta-analysis could not be conducted in most included reviews because of heterogeneity in populations, interventions, and outcomes.

Limitations

  • The paper states its scope was limited to interventions targeting adolescents and youth only, although mental health interventions take a life-course perspective; most evidence came from high-income countries, limiting generalizability to low- and middle-income countries.
  • The paper states there was a lack of standardized interventions and outcomes, meta-analysis could not be conducted in most included reviews, and long-term follow-up data were generally unavailable because most studies reported short-term outcomes.
  • The paper calls for reporting differential effects by gender, age group, socioeconomic status, and geographic setting; evident from the text, this overview synthesizes other systematic reviews rather than primary trials, and included review quality varied.

Model-written summary. Check it against the paper before relying on it.

Integrity signals

Registry

Crossref · 10.1016/j.jadohealth.2016.06.020

Cites

72 of 72 references verified0 citation errors · 0 not checkable

Statistics

Nothing to recompute.

Figures

Figure 1 Search flow diagram. MeSH = Medical Subject Heading.
Figure 1 Search flow diagram. MeSH = Medical Subject Heading.CC BY · PubMed Central

Verification

Claims the paper makes

96 Not checked yet · 26 Own result · 9 No basis given · 3 Own method · 2 Own interpretation

Verify all 107 references — free account

Show all 96 claims

  • It may state two separate claims as one. 29
  • Probably not a substantial claim. 14
  • The quote only partly states this claim. 1
40 of 40

Claims other papers make about this one

Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?

Self-check

Percentages, sums and reported differences re-computed from the paper’s own numbers.

Each contradiction between two passages listed here was confirmed by an independent check.

1 of 1

Citations

Cites

Cited by

Sorted by citations

See all 528

Metadata

Authors
Das, J. K., Salam, R. A., Lassi, Z. S., Khan, M. N., Mahmood, W., Patel, V., & Bhutta, Z. A.
Affiliations
  • Aga Khan University (PK)
  • The University of Adelaide (AU)
  • Ziauddin University (PK)
  • London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine (GB)
Corresponding author
Bhutta, Zulfiqar A.
Venue
Journal of Adolescent Health
Publisher
Elsevier BV
Published
2016-10
Volume
59
Issue
4
Pages
S49-S60
ISSN
1054-139X (ISSN-L)
OpenAlex
W2522424413
Cited by
528
References
74
Citations by year
2026: 33 · 2025: 57 · 2024: 66 · 2023: 69 · 2022: 81 · 2021: 75 · 2020: 57 · 2019: 42 · 2018: 28 · 2017: 12 · 2016: 8
FWCI
4.37
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Locations
  • Journal of Adolescent Health (publishedVersion, cc-by)
  • PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
  • LSHTM Research Online (London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine) (acceptedVersion)
  • eCommons - AKU (Aga Khan University) (submittedVersion)
  • Adelaide Research & Scholarship (AR&S) (University of Adelaide) (submittedVersion, cc-by)
  • Greater South Information System
Topics
  • Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Child and Adolescent Psychosocial and Emotional Development
  • Social Sciences › Psychology › Applied Psychology › Digital Mental Health Interventions
  • Health Sciences › Medicine › Psychiatry and Mental health › Mental Health Treatment and Access
Keywords
adolescent mental health, mental health interventions, school-based intervention, community-based intervention, digital mental health platforms, family intervention, cognitive behavioral therapy, depression, anxiety, suicide prevention, eating disorders, bulimia nervosa, physical activity, self-esteem, body mass index, eating attitudes, creative activity, psychotherapy, remission, publication bias

About these checks

Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.

A language model drew the claims from the paper on 2026-10-09, under version 3 of the claim definition (model deepseek-v4.1-flash, prompt extract-v3).

A second model labelled each claim on 2026-10-09 (model jev-1.13-20260917, definition revision gold-guideline-v0.2).

Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.

Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.

What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›

Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review