Exploring the views of adolescents with type 1 diabetes on digital mental health interventions: What functionality and content do they want?
Abstract
Background Adolescents with type 1 diabetes (T1D) experience higher rates of psychological disorders compared with their healthy peers. As poor psychological health has been associated with suboptimal glycaemic control and more frequent complications, there is an urgent need to develop more 'clinically usable' interventions. Digital mental health interventions offer unique advantages compared with in-person interventions; however, what adolescents with T1D want in terms of content and functionality is poorly understood. Accordingly, the current study conducted focus groups to examine the views of adolescents with T1D regarding digital mental health interventions. Methods Four focus groups were conducted, including 16 adolescents with T1D, ranging from 13 to 17 years in age (69% female). Transcripts were analysed using directed content analysis to examine (1) 'what adolescents dislike about existing digital mental health interventions?' and (2) 'what adolescents want in future digital mental health interventions?'. Results Findings provide a preliminary understanding of what adolescents dislike and also the type of content and functional features, which may be important to include in digital mental health programs for this population, such as a peer support feature (reported by 16 of 16), emotion and diabetes check-in feature (11 of 16) and diabetes-relevant content (12 of 16). Conclusions Early data suggest that digital mental health interventions should include a significant…
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The qualitative findings from this study were in line with previous eHealth studies reporting participants' wishes for tailored intervention content, the ability to set reminders, and mobile accessibility.
“Similarly, the qualitative findings from this study were in line with previous eHealth studies reporting participants' wishes for tailored intervention content, the ability to set reminders, and mobile accessibility (Boggiss et al., 2021; Liverpool et al., 2020).”
From ACT2COPE: A pilot randomised trial of a brief online acceptance and commitment therapy intervention for people living with chronic health conditions during the COVID-19 pandemic (2023) · cites this paper as Boggiss et al., 2021
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- Authors
- Boggiss, A. L., Consedine, N. S., Schache, K. R., Wallace‐Boyd, K., Cao, N., Hofman, P. L., & Serlachius, A. S.
- Affiliations
- University of Auckland (NZ)
- Tamaki Health Auckland New Zealand
- Corresponding author
- Boggiss, Anna L.
- ORCID
- Venue
- Diabetic Medicine
- Publisher
- Wiley
- Published
- 2021-05-14
- Volume
- 38
- Issue
- 11
- Pages
- e14591-e14591
- ISSN
- 0742-3071 (ISSN-L)
- 1464-5491
- OpenAlex
- W3158235687
- Cited by
- 19
- References
- 29
- Citations by year
- 2026: 4 · 2025: 3 · 2024: 5 · 2023: 5 · 2021: 2
- FWCI
- 2.69
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Diabetic Medicine (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- ResearchSpace (University of Auckland) (submittedVersion)
- Funders
- Faculty of Medical and Health Sciences, University of Auckland
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Applied Psychology › Digital Mental Health Interventions
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Endocrinology, Diabetes and Metabolism › Diabetes Management and Education
- Health Sciences › Health Professions › General Health Professions › Mobile Health and mHealth Applications
- Keywords
- type 1 diabetes, adolescents, digital mental health interventions, user preferences, peer support, diabetes self-management, mental health, intervention design
- MeSH terms
- Self-Management, Adolescent, Mental Disorders, Child, Diabetes Mellitus, Type 1, Feasibility Studies, Female, Follow-Up Studies, Humans, Male, Mental Health, Peer Group, Time Factors, Health Behavior
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