New paper on digital mental health co-produced by young people in Scotland and Generation Scotland

The paper, from authors including Generation Scotland research fellow Dr Zhuoni Xiao, outlines the new mental health study ‘Loneliness in the Digital World’, which is currently recruiting participants.

Generation Scotland is Scotland’s largest family health study, with over 36,000 participants, and aiming to recruit over 10,000 more. In particular, the Generation Scotland team aims to recruit more young people to help represent the mental and physical health of the youth of Scotland. ‘Loneliness in the Digital World’ was launched and shaped in collaboration with young people from across Scotland. The study, entitled 'Loneliness in the Digital World: protocol for a co-produced ecological momentary assessment study in adolescents' is published in BMJ Open. 

Read the study here (external link)

Loneliness in adolescence is a prevalent and important public health issue, with higher levels of loneliness linking to negative mental and physical health outcomes, such as anxiety and poor sleep quality. This problem has grown since 2020 due to the changes in social interaction methods triggered by the Covid-19 pandemic. How social media and online social interactions link to loneliness is particularly understudied in young people.

This study uses a youth-centred approach, with a Young Person Advisory Group (YPAG) of ten young people proactively involved in developing the study protocol and shaping the research design. This co-developed protocol utilises increased smartphone usage in this demographic by creating an app-based approach using an 'Ecological Momentary Assessment'. This involves repeatedly sampling of  behaviours and experiences in real-time, in a subjects’ natural environment and everyday life. This design allows real-time data to be collected, with young people using an app to answer prompts to report their social interactions, loneliness and moods throughout the day over a 2-week period. This data will then be analysed to answer core research questions about how social interactions (both in-person and online), loneliness and mental health are linked.