The Longitudinal Effects of Digital Technology on Mental Health Outcomes

Abstract

Digital technology continues to advance at an unprecedented rate and is recognised to have many uses across a number of population groups in society. This thesis aimed to look at the different roles of digital technology on mental health outcomes. Firstly, paper one is a systematic review which aimed to synthesise and evaluate research to date which investigated the longitudinal relationship between cyberbullying victimisation and anxiety, depression, and suicidal ideation separately. Twenty-seven studies were identified in the review paper, reporting baseline measures for cyberbullying victimisation and outcome measures for anxiety, depression, and suicidal ideation at follow-up timepoints. The measurement of cyberbullying victimisation varied across the majority of the studies indicating a degree of heterogeneity. Emerging evidence was found for the longitudinal relationship between cyberbullying victimisation and depression. However, these findings should be interpreted with caution as explained later in this thesis. Findings for the longitudinal relationship between cyberbullying victimisation, anxiety and suicidal ideation were inconsistent. Although future research is required to replicate the findings for anxiety and suicidal ideation outcomes given the small subset of studies conducted to date. Secondly, paper two aimed to investigate the role of app engagement in predicting a reduction in psychosis and mood symptoms in a sample of individuals with early psychosis. Data was collected as a part of the Actissist 2.0 trial and provided a novel contribution to the literature by conducting a secondary analysis to: (i) characterise weekly engagement among participants in the Actissist 2.0 trial and (ii) investigate whether app engagement in, and of, itself predicted a reduction in psychosis and mood symptoms over time. Engagement was found to reduce over the course of the trial and did not predict a reduction in psychosis and mood symptoms. Clinical implications and areas for future work are discussed. Paper Three is a critical reflection of the systematic review and empirical study. It summarises different aspects of the research process from conception to completion whilst considering clinical implications and opportunities for future research.

Date of Award	31 Dec 2021
Original language	English
Awarding Institution	The University of Manchester
Supervisor	Goran Nenadic (Supervisor), Lamiece Hassan (Supervisor) & Sandra Bucci (Supervisor)