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Adolescence is an important life stage including physical, emotional and social changes that make adolescents vulnerable to mental health issues. To face these emotional and behavioral problems, adolescents may use various coping strategies. This exploratory qualitative study aimed to better understand the coping strategies when adolescents face mental health difficulties, the reasons why some adolescents find it difficult to seek social support and/or professional care and which interventions they would find efficient to improve adolescents' mental health.

The study included 28 participants aged between 12–19 years old. Four online focus groups (FGs) separated by gender and age were performed between March and April 2021, during the third wave of the COVID-19 pandemic in Switzerland.

The results show that several strategies put forward by participants did not include talking about their problems with others. Reducing the stigma and taking the adolescents' mental health seriously would make it easier for adolescents to talk about their problems to other people. Overall, participants considered that doing leisure-time activities and going out with friends were the best way to reduce stressful situations and mental health problems. For all aspects of health, including the mental one, it is important that policies promote the access to sports and arts activities for all the adolescents.

This study explored adolescents' coping strategies and their opinions on intervention for dealing with potential mental health problems, an issue that is still taboo for some adolescents.

This study aims to synthesize the existing serious games designed to promote mental health in adolescents with chronic illnesses.

This study conducted a review following the guidelines of Joanna Briggs Institute and Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic reviews and Meta-Analyses extension for Scoping Reviews. Searches were conducted in databases PubMed, Scopus, Web of Science, Cochrane Library, cumulative index to nursing and allied health literature, PsycINFO, China national knowledge infrastructure Wanfang, VIP Database for Chinese Technical Periodicals and SinoMed from inception to February 12, 2023.

A total of 14 studies (describing 14 serious games) for improving the mental health of adolescents with chronic diseases were included. Of all the included games, 12 were not described as adopting any theoretical framework or model. The main diseases applicable to serious games are cancer, type 1 diabetes and autism spectrum disorder. For interventional studies, more than half of the study types were feasibility or pilot trials. Furthermore, the dosage of serious games also differs in each experiment. For the game elements, most game elements were in the category “reward and punishment features” (n = 50) and last was “social features” (n = 4).

Adolescence is a critical period in a person’s physical and mental development throughout life. Diagnosed with chronic diseases during this period will cause great trauma to the adolescents and their families. Serious game interventions have been developed and applied to promote the psychological health field of healthy adolescents. To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this study is the first to scope review the serious game of promoting mental health in the population of adolescents with chronically ill. At the same time, the current study also extracted and qualitatively analyzed the elements of the serious game.

This paper aims to explore the intersection of cultural processes and immigration in parental understanding of adolescent mental health and mental health seeking behaviors among African immigrants in Western countries. The present study examines the perspectives of Congolese immigrant parents on adolescent mental health in Brussels, Belgium, and Raleigh, North Carolina, USA – two geographic regions with relatively large Congolese migrant populations. This study highlights a needed understanding of cultural and acculturative context in shaping the beliefs of Congolese immigrants and explores potential barriers of seeking health services. Additionally, it recognizes health issues among this underrepresented and underserved population.

Fifteen Congolese immigrant parents, eight in the USA and seven in Belgium, participated in structured qualitative interviews using an adapted version of Kleinman Questions and behavioral scenarios on depression, post-traumatic stress disorder and oppositional defiant disorder. Interviews were audio recorded, and participants were assigned pseudonyms to de-identify responses. English interviews were transcribed verbatim by a trained team of undergraduate research assistants, and French interviews were transcribed verbatim by the first author and a graduate research assistant. Following transcription, the first and second authors used a rapid analytic approach (Hamilton, 2013). The first and second authors conducted a matrix analysis to observe thematic patterns.

Parents interpreted adolescent behavior to be more problematic when the scenarios were overtly outside of their cultural realm of values and beliefs. Parents preferred methods of intervention through religious practices and/or family and community efforts rather than seeking mental health services in their host countries as a secondary option. The authors’ findings provide an understanding of the values and beliefs of this underrepresented demographic, which may be useful to guide health professionals on how to support this community in a culturally responsive way.

Limitations to the current study include the structured nature of the interview guide that did not allow for in-depth qualitative exploration. Interviewed participants had lived in their host countries for more than 10+ years. Thus, the authors’ findings are not reflective of new immigrants’ experiences. Parents’ perspectives were likely shaped by exposure to Western beliefs related to support for mental health (e.g. knowledge of psychologists). Future studies should focus on recent refugees due to exposure to traumatic events and experiences reflective of the Democratic Republic of Congo’s (DRC’s) current socio-political situation, and how these are understood in the context of adolescent mental health. Further, due to the hypothetical nature of the scenarios, the authors cannot be sure that participants would engage in the identified approaches with their children. Additionally, hearing from the youth’s perspective would provide a clearer insight on how mental health and seeking professional help is viewed in a parent–child relationship. Finally, the data for this study were collected in 2019, prior to the COVID-19 pandemic. Although the authors cannot speak directly to Congolese refugee and immigrant experiences during this significant historical period, given the rise in mental health concerns in refugee populations more broadly (Logie et al., 2022), the authors’ findings speak to how parents may have responded to increased mental health symptoms and point to additional barriers that these populations may have faced in accessing support. The authors’ study emphasizes the need for dedicating resources and attention to this population, especially the development of culturally tailored messaging that invites community members to support the mental health needs of their community.

The authors’ findings provide important implications for mental health professionals. This study provides a clearer understanding of how Congolese immigrant parents view mental health and help-seeking within their cultural frame. Although parents may seek professional help, a distrust of mental health services was expressed across both cohorts. This suggests that mental health professionals should acknowledge potential distrust among this population and clarify their role in supporting the mental health of adolescent immigrants. Clinicians should inquire about familial cultural beliefs that are parent- and child-centered and modify their interventions to fit these belief structures.

This paper addresses the gap in knowledge about mental health perspectives of Sub-Saharan African immigrant populations, specifically those from the DRC.

This paper aims to investigate the local perspectives, based on culture and beliefs about peer stigma, consequences and strategies to reduce mental health stigma among adolescents in Indonesia.

This study included 30 participants, including students, teachers, health professionals and lecturers. Two sessions of focus group discussions and 14 sessions of in-depth interviews were performed to collect the data. A qualitative content analysis was carried out, and some related themes and sub-themes were explored.

This study found that peer stigma was prevalent and negatively impacted the psychological, social and intellectual development of adolescents with mental disorders (MD) in Indonesian society. Five strategies to tackle peer stigma were proposed, including increasing mental health literacy (MHL), reducing the harmful effects of stigma, fostering a supportive social environment, expanding access to and improving the quality of mental health care and advocating for public health policies.

More qualitative research on the experiences and perspectives of victims, perpetrators and society concerning mental health stigma in adolescents is required to fully understand why stigma arises, what causative factors and repercussions it has, as well as how to deal with it.

Peer stigma still exists among adolescents. It has negative impacts on their mental and psychological well-being. MHL, social environment, the harmful effects of stigma, as well as mental health access and policy were concerns of this study. A school is a place where adolescents spend most of their social time. Schools play a vital part in the stigma-reduction program.

Mental health stigma among adolescents with MD is an issue that has potentially hindered mental health recovery. Anti-stigma intervention based on local perspectives is valuable in increasing the effectiveness and acceptance of interventions.

This study aims to gain a comprehensive understanding of adolescent’s experiences of individual school social work counselling in Swedish elementary schools.

The study encompasses interviews with 16 adolescents about their experiences of individual counselling with school social workers (SSWs). The data was analysed using conventional content analysis.

The main result was the adolescents’ desire “to navigate to shore” to speak freely about their whole lives with a professional SSW and find a “ safe haven,” […] where a trusting professional cared for and comforted them in counselling. The counselling contact contributed to increased knowledge about oneself. The results reveal the importance of the SSWs paying attention and listening to the adolescents’ narratives. The creation of a coherent life narrative enables to finally end counselling and “Cast off.”

The results highlight the importance of Swedish SSWs focusing on individual counselling sessions with adolescents to provide a setting for growth.

This study aims at presenting the results of the research on the formative and permanent education in adolescence for health professionals of the Municipality of São Paulo. The analysis focuses on the so-called permanent education geared toward health professionals, and seeks to learn about the relation between biomedicine’s construction “of” adolescence and the problems related to teenagers’ health, deemed fundamental for the training of health professionals, from the study of themes related to teenagers’ health as they feature in the Permanent Education Municipal Plans (Planos Municipais de Educação Permanente – PLAMEP, covering the whole of the municipality). Thus the aim is to problematize the social construction, by biomedicine, of adolescence and of the adolescent body, grounded on the understanding of the issues raised in the PLAMEPs and defined as proper “to” adolescence and important for the permanent formation of health professionals. With a methodological approach of both quantitative and qualitative characters, the study holds as empirical reference the Municipal Health Schools of the Municipality of São Paulo and the six Regional Coordination Offices. The study relies, as research techniques, on documental survey (the PLAMEPs); on semi-structured interviews with managers, health representatives, and professionals to whom the activities of permanent education are aimed at; and on notes from the field book. The results now presented refer to the phase of PLAMEPs’ collection and analysis.

Adolescent mental health is a global concern. There is an urgent need for creative, multimedia interventions reflecting adolescent culture to promote mental health literacy and well-being. This study aims to assess the impact of a film-based intervention on adolescent mental health literacy, well-being and resilience.

A pretest-posttest intervention with a multi-methods evaluation was used. A convenience sample of ten schools facilitated students aged 15–17 years to engage in an online intervention (film, post-film discussion, well-being Webinar). Participants completed surveys on well-being, resilience, stigma, mental health knowledge and help-seeking. Five teachers who facilitated the intervention participated in post-implementation interviews or provided a written submission. Analysis included paired-t-test and effect size calculation and thematic analysis.

Matched pretest-posttest data were available on 101 participants. There were significant increases in well-being, personal resilience and help-seeking attitudes for personal/emotional problems, and suicidal ideation. Participants’ free-text comments suggested the intervention was well-received, encouraging them to speak more openly about mental health. Teachers similarly endorsed the intervention, especially the focus on resilience.

Intinn shows promise in improving adolescents’ mental health literacy and well-being. Film-based interventions may encourage adolescents to seek professional help for their mental health, thus facilitating early intervention.

During the Great Recession, the increase in Greece's unemployment rate was the highest in the European Union (EU). However, there exists no multi-variate study which has assessed the association between parental unemployment and adolescents' grades. The present study aimed to examine whether parental unemployment is associated with deterioration in adolescents' grades during periods of economic decline.

The study utilised panel data from the same upper high schools in the periods 2011–2013 and 2017–2019 to assess whether the grades of adolescents were associated with parental unemployment. A variety of empirical specifications and robustness tests were employed to offer better informed evaluations.

The exogeneity of parental unemployment with respect to adolescents' grade was confirmed. The analysis revealed that parental unemployment was associated with a decline in adolescents' grades. Periods of economic decline, i.e. in 2011–2013, were found to be associated with deterioration in adolescents' grades. Moreover, during periods of economic decline, parental unemployment was associated with deterioration in adolescents' grades. Furthermore, parental unemployment was associated with lower adolescents' grades for those households that were not homeowners and whose schools were located in working-class areas. The outcomes were found to be robust, even after including information for government expenditure on education and social protection.

This is the first Greek study, and amongst the first international studies, to evaluate whether parental unemployment can lead to a deterioration in adolescents' grades during an economic decline. The potential long-lasting effects of parental unemployment on children's human capital should be considered by policymakers, as should educational interventions to support households experiencing adverse economic conditions.

Adolescence is a developmental stage of transition that is marked by multiple biopsychosocial changes that affect their well- and ill-being. This study aims to examine the multidimensional of well- and ill-being among adolescents, and to understand the relationship between well-being and depression using the PERMA model among school-age adolescents.

A descriptive, cross-sectional design was used to recruit 625 school-age adolescents (343 males and 282 females), using convenience sampling technique from the central district of Jordan. Self-administered questionnaire was used to collect data in relation to depression and well-being.

The analysis revealed that 32% had a well-being score below the median and 19% had severe depressive symptoms. Depression and well-being were moderately correlated, with the connectedness dimension being the most correlated to depression, whereas the engagement dimension was the least correlated. Females had higher scores on all subscales of depression and a significantly higher score on depression than males, whereas males had higher scores on all well-being dimensions and significantly higher scores on overall well-being than females.

Adolescents’ mental health is compromised and affected by their perception of well-being, and a comprehensive psychoeducation for adolescents on how to enhance well-being might combat development of depressive symptoms.

This study used all PERMA model components to provide an in-depth description of adolescents’ well-being, which is a crucial initial phase in better understanding how this age group experiences well-being and how it connects to their ill-being, as indicated by their depressive symptoms. The in-depth description of adolescents’ well-being will aid in planning early intervention and prevention programs for mental illness.

Sexual and reproductive health (SRH) interventions demand diverse services, encompassing medical, social and psychological care to ensure the overall wellbeing of service users. In the absence of multidisciplinary response to SRH interventions, service users could be deprived of crucial SRH services, which could undermine their safety and wellbeing. Based on this knowledge, our study was designed to map the interprofessional space in primary healthcare (PHC) facilities in Ebonyi State, Nigeria that deliver SRH services.

Interviews with 20 health workers and group discussions with 72 young people aged 15–24 years provided the data for the study. We analyzed data deductively, focusing on the assessments of the presence or absence of specific professionals that are typically expected to provide different aspects of SRH services.

We found conspicuous absence of laboratory diagnostic, social care, psycho-cognitive and some medical services expected of primary care. These absences necessitated unnecessary referrals, encouraged breaches in confidentiality, undermined social care and justice, increased cost of care and discouraged young clients from utilizing SRH services provided in PHCs. Our study, therefore, emphasizes the need for integrated care in the delivery of SRH services, which would involve relevant diverse professionals contributing their expertise toward comprehensive care for SRH service users.

The study provides human resource insights toward strengthening primary healthcare in Nigeria vis-à-vis efficient delivery of SRH services to guarantee the health security of service users.