Investigating the Role of a Social Support-Enabled Mobile Health (mHealth) Framework to Alleviate Depressive Symptomatology and Elevate Psychological Well-being in Adolescents

With the onset of mental disorders during adolescence, mobile health (mHealth) apps are especially a promising approach for depression, which is one of the leading causes of mortality and morbidity in this vulnerable age group, and is yet underrecognized, underdiagnosed and undertreated. To alleviate depressive symptomatology and elevate psychological well-being in adolescents, an evidence-based social support-enabled mHealth framework was investigated, proposed, implemented, and evaluated with technical experts, mental health practitioners, and school-going adolescents. The results indicated a positive reception, with participants expressing appreciation for the app's usability and potential impact on their well-being. These contributions emphasize the importance of integrating social support into mHealth interventions for adolescent depressive symptomatology based on self-reported and real-time unobtrusive symptom collection via machine learning models.