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POLICY AND PRACTICE REVIEWS article

Front. Digit. Health
Sec. Digital Mental Health
Volume 6 - 2024 | doi: 10.3389/fdgth.2024.1449129
This article is part of the Research Topic United in Diversity: Highlighting Themes from the European Society for Research on Internet Interventions 7th Conference View all 3 articles

Centering equity, diversity, and inclusion in youth digital mental health: Findings from a research, policy, and practice knowledge exchange workshop

Provisionally accepted
Medard Adu Medard Adu 1Bilikis Banire Bilikis Banire 1Mya Dockrill Mya Dockrill 1Alzena Ilie Alzena Ilie 1Elizabeth Lappin Elizabeth Lappin 2Patrick J. McGrath Patrick J. McGrath 3Samantha Munro Samantha Munro 4Kady Myers Kady Myers 5Gloria Obuobi-Donkor Gloria Obuobi-Donkor 1Rita Orji Rita Orji 1Rebecca R. Pillai Riddell Rebecca R. Pillai Riddell 6Lori Wozney Lori Wozney 3*Victor Yisa Victor Yisa 1
  • 1 Dalhousie University, Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada
  • 2 Maritimes Spor Support Unit, Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada
  • 3 IWK Health, Halifax, Canada
  • 4 Acadia University, Wolfville, Nova Scotia, Canada
  • 5 Nova Scotia Health Authority, Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada
  • 6 York University, Toronto, Ontario, Canada

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    Background: Youth mental health service organizations continue to rapidly broaden their use of virtual care and digital mental health interventions as well as leverage artificial intelligence and other technologies to inform care decisions. However, many of these digital services have failed to alleviate persistent mental health disparities among equity-seeking populations and in some instances have exacerbated them. Transdisciplinary and intersectional knowledge exchange is greatly needed to address structural barriers to digital mental health engagement, develop and evaluate interventions with historically underserved communities, and ultimately promote more accessible, useful, and equitable care. Methods: To that end, the Digital, Inclusive, Virtual, and Equitable Research Training in Mental Health Platform (DIVERT), the Maritime Strategy for Patient Oriented Research (SPOR) SUPPORT (Support for People and Patient-Oriented Research and Trials) Unit and IWK Mental Health Program invited researchers, policymakers, interprofessional mental health practitioners, trainees, computer scientists, health system administrators, community leaders and youth advocates to participate in a knowledge exchange workshop. The workshop aimed to (a) highlight local research and innovation in youth-focused digital mental health services; (b) learn more about current policy and practice issues in inclusive digital mental health for youth in Canada, (c) participate in generating action recommendations to address challenges to inclusive, diverse and equitable digital mental health services, and (d) to synthesize cross-sector feedback to inform future training curriculum, policy, strategic planning and to stimulate new lines of patient-oriented research.Results: Eleven challenge themes emerged related to white-colonial normativity, lack of cultural humility, inaccessibility and affordability of participating in the digital world, lack of youth and community involvement, risks of too much digital time in youth's lives, and lack of scientific evidence derived from equity-deserving communities. Nine action recommendations focused on diversifying research and development funding, policy and standards, youth and community led promotion, long-term trust-building and collaboration, and needing to callout and advocate against unsafe digital services and processes. Conclusion: Key policy, training and practice implications are discussed.

    Keywords: Mental Health, Technology, diversity, equity and inclusion, Interdisciplinary, translational science, Knowledge translation

    Received: 14 Jun 2024; Accepted: 02 Oct 2024.

    Copyright: © 2024 Adu, Banire, Dockrill, Ilie, Lappin, McGrath, Munro, Myers, Obuobi-Donkor, Orji, Pillai Riddell, Wozney and Yisa. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence: Lori Wozney, IWK Health, Halifax, Canada

    Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.