Effects of mobile technology-based interventions in promoting mental health and psychosocial wellbeing among young people in low-and middle-income countries: a systematic review protocol

Objective: This review aims to examine the effectiveness of mobile-based technologies implemented in low -and middle-income countries (LMICs) targeted at young people (10-24 years) to promote their mental health and psychosocial wellbeing. Such promotional interventions may be in the form of mobile technology-based education, information and psychosocial counselling.
Introduction: Young people in LMICs have limited access to mental health services. Mobile-based technologies like remote consultations, telehealth and smartphone-based applications can offer cost-effective options to improve access to mental health services for young people in LMICs. However, to the best of our knowledge, there are no systematic reviews of effectiveness in this area.
Inclusion criteria: Evidence sources from LMICs involving mobile-based technologies for MHPSS interventions for young people (10-24 years) will be included. All experimental and non-experimental studies published in English from 2010 to 2022 will be included.

Methods: The proposed review will follow the JBI Methodology for Systematic Reviews of Effectiveness. EMBASE (Ovid), CINAHL (EBSCO), PsycINFO (ProQuest), AMED (Ovid), HMIC (Ovid) MEDLINE (Pubmed) and Web of Science (Clarivate Analytics) electronic databases will be searched between 2010-2022.The grey literature will be identified through OpenGrey, Directory of Open Access Journals, ProQuest Dissertations and Theses, EThOs, Asia eHealth Information Network, Google Scholar, and the Grey Literature Report. The retrieved articles will be managed using COVIDENCE software and screened independently by two reviewers. Data extraction will be through a standardized JBI data extraction tool incorporated within JBI SUMARI and narrative synthesis will be conducted, followed by meta-analysis, where feasible.