Understanding Engagement Strategies in Digital Interventions for Mental Health Promotion: Scoping Review

Area of Science:

• Digital health
• Mental health promotion
• Human-computer interaction

Background:

• Digital interventions are crucial for accessible mental health promotion, especially with physical contact restrictions.
• User engagement is vital for digital intervention effectiveness but remains a significant challenge.
• Strategies to maintain user engagement in mental health promotion interventions require further investigation.

Purpose of the Study:

• To conduct a scoping review on user engagement strategies for digital mental health promotion interventions in adults.
• To identify methods used to evaluate engagement with these digital interventions.

Main Methods:

• A scoping review following PRISMA guidelines was conducted.
• Searches were performed across 7 electronic databases up to April 2020.
• Inclusion criteria focused on adult users, digital interventions for mental health promotion, and described engagement strategies.

Main Results:

• 16 studies met the inclusion criteria from 2766 identified.
• Web-based interventions (75%) were more common than mobile apps (25%).
• Effective engagement strategies included personalized feedback, e-coaching, social forums, gamification, reminders, and usability.

Conclusions:

• Personalized support, social access, and feedback appear to boost engagement in digital mental health interventions.
• Findings should be interpreted cautiously due to study heterogeneity and small sample sizes.
• More research is needed to understand effective engagement strategies for digital mental health promotion.