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PERSPECTIVE article

Front. Psychiatry
Sec. Digital Mental Health
Volume 15 - 2024 | doi: 10.3389/fpsyt.2024.1455962
This article is part of the Research Topic The Effect of Digital Usage on Mental Health and Adaptation of Adolescents in the Post-Pandemic Era View all 6 articles

Contextual Adaptation of Digital Wellbeing Interventions for Young People: Insights from a Project in Saudi Arabia

Provisionally accepted
Dahlia AlJuboori Dahlia AlJuboori 1Laura K Clary Laura K Clary 1Saud Abdulaziz Alomairah Saud Abdulaziz Alomairah 1,2Michelle Colder Carras Michelle Colder Carras 1Nazmus Saquib Nazmus Saquib 3Juliann Saquib Juliann Saquib 3Fahad Albeyahi Fahad Albeyahi 4Antonius J. Van Rooij Antonius J. Van Rooij 5Anouk Tuijnman Anouk Tuijnman 5Vincent G Van Der Rijst Vincent G Van Der Rijst 5Michelle Kaufman Michelle Kaufman 1Johannes Thrul Johannes Thrul 1,6,7*
  • 1 Bloomberg School of Public Health, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, United States
  • 2 University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Capital Region of Denmark, Denmark
  • 3 Sulaiman Al Rajhi University, Al Bukayrīyah, Saudi Arabia
  • 4 King Abdulaziz Center for World Culture, Dhahran, Saudi Arabia
  • 5 Trimbos Institute, Utrecht, Netherlands, Netherlands
  • 6 Sidney Kimmel Comprehensive Cancer Center, Johns Hopkins Medicine, Baltimore, Maryland, United States
  • 7 Centre for Alcohol Policy Research, La Trobe University, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia

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

    In today's world, the internet is seamlessly woven into every facet of our existence. This constant engagement with digital media has generated concerns about the negative effects of digital media use, especially among adolescents. These concerns have led to the development and testing of numerous digital wellbeing interventions that focus on adolescents' digital media use. However, these interventions are lacking in the Middle East and North Africa, and specifically in Saudi Arabia, where digital media use is highly prevalent and frequent. Our research team is conducting a series of studies -literature reviews, stakeholder engagement work, and a nationwide survey of adolescent digital media use -to inform, develop, and ultimately test school-based digital wellbeing intervention for high school students in Saudi Arabia. The goal of this manuscript is to explain our process of informing and creating an intervention that builds on previously established, evidence-based approaches, and is also tailored to a particular context (e.g., Saudi Arabia). Moreover, we distill the lessons learned from each study and provide recommendations to assist others in developing tailored digital wellbeing interventions for contexts that have not been the focus of previous intervention development.

    Keywords: Digital wellbeing, digital media use, adolescence, Intervention development, Schoolbased Intervention

    Received: 27 Jun 2024; Accepted: 18 Dec 2024.

    Copyright: © 2024 AlJuboori, Clary, Alomairah, Carras, Saquib, Saquib, Albeyahi, Van Rooij, Tuijnman, Van Der Rijst, Kaufman and Thrul. 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: Johannes Thrul, Bloomberg School of Public Health, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, United States

    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.