About this poster

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Panel information
Panel 6. Risk, Intervention, Prevention, and Action

Abstract

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Background: Chinese societies—including Hong Kong, Macau, Taiwan, and Mainland China—face growing challenges concerning the mental health of youth. Over the past two decades, there have been growing initiatives devoted to prevention and promotion strategies through the adaptation and implementation of culturally and developmentally tailored mental health programs. However, research has yet to investigate the effects across studies. This systematic review and meta-analysis seeks to calibrate the quality and efficacy of prevention and promotion initiatives targeting youth within Chinese communities.

Method: Following the PICOS and PRISMA guidelines, literature searches were conducted via EBSCOhost, ProQuest, Web of Science, and checking reference lists and grey literature through lists of keywords. Inclusion criteria for eligible studies were a) utilization of experimental or quasi-experimental design with control or comparison groups, b) main target of youth between 13 and 18 in Chinese societies, c) primary focus on reducing mental illness-related risks and behaviors, and promoting adapting skills or mental well-being, and d) publication in English prior to December 31st, 2022. Relevant program characteristics and outcome data from included studies were further extracted, analyzed, and synthesized for quality assessment and meta-analysis. Overall and subgroup pooled effect sizes on selected mental health outcomes, including internalizing problems, externalizing problems, and adaptive coping skills, were estimated using the STATA 17.0 Software for studies containing sufficient statistical data.

Findings: The study screened 2,158 records identified through searches, of which 22 studies met the systematic review inclusion criteria. Studies involved 19,255 youth living in mainland China, Hong Kong, Macau, and Taiwan. Most of the included studies were school-based (N=21), used randomized trials (N=15), instrcuted by schoolteachers (N=15), and addressed multiple mental health outcomes (N=19). An overall score of 7.0 (SD=1.27) out of 10.00 was obtained using the 10-item quality assessment measure developed by the researcher, with more than half of the studies (N=12) scoring between 6 and 7. On average, pooled effects regressions by outcome showed a statistically significant strong effect (ES=2.83; 95% CI, 0.56, 5.10) in boosting youth’s adaptive coping skills, and small reductions in substance use (OR=-0.25; 95% CI, -0.39, -0.11). No effects were found on overall internalizing symptoms (ES= -0.29, 95% CI: -0.92, 0.34), depression (ES=--0.06, 95% CI: -0.20, 0.08), stress (ES=-0.01, 95% CI: -0.18, 0.16), or anxiety (ES=-0.70; 95% CI, -2.35, 0.95) at post-intervention across studies.

Conclusions & Implications: The findings showed promise for high-quality Chinese-based programs aimed at promoting adaptive skills, especially for avoiding substance use, whereas preventing internalizing symptoms remains challenging. Future high-quality research needs to seek strategies to improve the study quality, effectiveness, and implementation of preventive and promotive efforts at multisystemic levels to advance mental health for youth in Chinese societies.

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