Digital Mental Health Tools and Their Role in Enhancing Academic Performance and Well-Being: A Systematic Review
UCHE STANLEY CHUKWUEMEKA *
Clinical Adolescence Psychology, Prairie View A&M University, TX, USA.
BERNICE ASARE-BADU
Department of Educational Specialties, ESL and Bilingual Education, Northern Arizona University, Flagstaff, AZ, USA.
Bridget Sefa-Boakye
Disability Support Services Department, Bowie State University, Bowie, MD, USA.
*Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Abstract
Objective: There are serious mental health challenges which university students are confronted with, which as a result, affect their success and overall well-being. This paper explores various digital mental health tools and their respective roles to improve students’ academic performance and well-being.
Methodology: The research follows a systematic review methodology in evaluating the impact of digital mental health tools for the enhancement of academic performance and well-being among students. Using PRISMA guidelines and Boolean operation, attention was given to information based on relevance, methodology, and attention to digital intervention, including mobile apps, online platforms, and AI-driven tools which were retrieved from popular database including Semantic Scholar, PubMed, Scopus, Web of Science, and JMIR. In total, 69 studies were included in the synthesis.
Findings: The findings revealed that digital mental health practices, including mobile applications, Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT), and mindfulness interventions, have a significant positive impact on students’ mental health through the reduction of anxiety, stress and depression. These tools also significantly improve academic performance through the improvement of cognitive function, focus, and time management. The personal characteristic traits component for engagement and effectiveness identified was mood monitoring and goal-setting. The integration of these tools in educational settings and mental health services provides students with continuous access to support their academic. However, barriers including technological limitations, privacy concerns and stigma exist against the adoption and continued use of the digital tools. Also, the ability to customise tools hinders its effectiveness, as students are likely to be interested in tools that best suited each individual’s needs. As part of the findings, it was noted that the need for longitudinal studies to assess long-run effects of these interventions, integration analysis of the digital tools into multi-system support systems for universities should be done.
Conclusion and Recommendation: Digital mental health tools unarguably improve the academic life and well-being of university students. But, tackling obstacles to involvement, personalisation, and integrated inclusion of these tools in existing learning practices are important. Future studies should be focused on long-term effectiveness and a more efficient digital approach to larger student populations.
Keywords: Digital mental health tools, academic performance, student well-being, cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT), mobile apps, stress management