Virtual Substance Use Interventions for Youth: A Scoping Review of Literature
摘要
Young people are particularly vulnerable to substance use and addiction and need reliable access to services to prevent and manage them. Access to substance use intervention programs was disrupted by the COVID-19 pandemic, leading to the adoption of virtual intervention programs for substance use prevention. Delivering virtual services through platforms such as the Internet, mobile phones, and video games provides opportunities for clients to overcome barriers to accessing substance addiction prevention and treatment programs. This scoping review focuses on virtual interventions for youth substance addiction prevention and treatment aimed at identifying best practices and lessons to enhance virtual care delivery and uptake among youth, post-COVID-19 pandemic. This scoping review explores, identifies, and synthesizes the available evidence on virtual interventions for substance use prevention among the youth. Arksey and O’Malley (2005), Levac et al. (2010), and the Joanna Briggs Institute (JBI) frameworks were utilized in the design and execution of this scoping review. A comprehensive literature search was conducted to identify published literature in CINAHL, Medline, Scopus, and Web of Science. A total of 53 studies were included in this review. Most virtual interventions were delivered using mobile phone text messaging (n = 22) and web-based text messaging (n = 17). Different substances were targeted with alcohol misuse among the youth being the most studied (n = 31). Despite barriers to virtual intervention research, our results suggest that virtual interventions have potential for substance addiction prevention among youth. The emergence of virtual interventions has presented a promising avenue for managing issues of substance use and addiction among youth who are already quite conversant with online platforms and applications. More research is needed to explore their efficacy, practicality, and outcomes.