Digital Mental Health Interventions for Child and Adolescent Anxiety

• Anxiety disorders are the most common mental health conditions in children, with between 10–15% of kids struggling with excessive anxiety. • The vast majority do not have access to effective treatments. • Digital mental health interventions (DMHI) can increase efficiency, reach and standardization and reduce costs of providing of mental health care. • Preliminary research shows promise in web-based programs, mobile applications (apps), virtual reality (VR), and digital assessment methods. • Questions remain regarding what level and quality of therapeutic involvement is needed to maximize treatment completion and outcomes in youth. Anxiety disorders are the most common mental health conditions in children, with approximately 13% of kids struggling with excessive anxiety. The vast majority do not have access to effective treatments and there continues to be a disjunction between treatments that are empirically supported and those that are available in the community. Digital mental health interventions (DMHI) can increase efficiency, reach, and standardization as well as reduce costs of providing of mental health care. Here we review the extant research on DMHI, including web- or cloud-based programs, mobile applications (apps), virtual reality (VR), and digital assessment methods such as ecological momentary assessment (EMA) for the delivery and/or support of evidence-based care in child anxiety. Preliminary research is promising for these tools to improve access and efficiency of evidence-based practice. However, ethics and practice guidelines are needed and questions remain regarding what level and quality of therapeutic involvement is needed to maximize treatment completion and outcomes in youth and whether DMHIs are contraindicated for certain populations or whether they are similarly effective with those with comorbid conditions is unclear.