The Interface between the Internet and Mental Health
A special issue of International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health (ISSN 1660-4601). This special issue belongs to the section "Mental Health".
Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (30 June 2021) | Viewed by 32562
Special Issue Editor
Interests: health behaviour change; digital health; physical-mental comorbidities; physical activity; nutrition; co-design and service user involvement
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
Recent years have seen a substantial increase in both academic and clinical interest in the role of digital technologies in psychiatry and mental health. For instance, numerous clinical trials across multiple psychiatric populations have provided emerging evidence that psychological interventions can be delivered via smartphones to reduce psychiatric symptoms and improve psychological wellbeing among people with mental health issues. On the flip-side of this, there is increasing speculation that certain aspects of digital technologies (such as internet addiction, or adverse interactions with social media) may negatively impact on mental health across the population.
The aim of this Special Issue is to produce a novel body of work contributing towards the field of digital psychiatry, particularly with regard to the use of smartphone technologies in mental disorders.
We warmly welcome all rigorous research projects examining this area of interest, across a range of study designs. Specifically, the Special Issue aims to include:
1) Novel case-control analyses providing new insights into how internet usage may differ between people with mental health conditions and the general population;
2) Clinical cohort studies investigating the association between specific online behaviors and psychological/cognitive outcomes in psychiatric populations;
3) Randomized and open-label trials examining if digital interventions can significantly improve mental health—in both clinical and nonclinical populations;
4) Pragmatic evaluations using qualitative, quantitative, and mixed-methods designs in order to shed new light into the feasibility, acceptability, and cost-effectiveness of digital interventions in the prevention or treatment of psychiatric conditions.
Therefore, this Special Issue will (a) present novel data on the impact of smartphone usage on public mental health and/or clinical disorders and (b) examine the efficacy and implementation of digital interventions for people with mental health conditions. Collectively, this will increase understanding and inform evidence-based practice of digital psychiatry, while providing clear directions for future research required to take the field forward.
Dr. Joseph Firth
Guest Editor
Manuscript Submission Information
Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.
Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.
Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2500 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.
Keywords
- smartphones
- apps
- digital
- internet
- social media
- mental illness
