Designing digital mental health interventions for older adults: a scoping review.
review · Level V
Where this comes from
- Record sourced from PubMed, PMID 41826429.
- Also identified by DOI 10.1038/s41746-026-02523-7 and PMC identifier 13036089.
- Licence recorded as CC BY.
- The licence permits redistribution, so the abstract is shown in full and the full text is available from the publisher.
Abstract
This scoping review aimed to explore the technical and health content-related features that digital mental health interventions (DMHIs) for older adults should entail to facilitate their future design, development, and implementation. We included peer-reviewed expert opinion papers, experimental studies and their protocols on DMHIs for older adults. We searched PubMed, Embase, PsycINFO, Web of Science and Google Scholar. A total of 98 studies were included, comprising 81 experimental studies and 17 expert opinion papers. The DMHIs reported in experimental studies and their protocols included mobile apps, online platforms, and videoconferencing tools, targeting depression, anxiety and grief. However, experts highlighted three main challenges faced by older adults: functional limitations, limited digital literacy, and restricted access to technology. This review provides considerations for the development of future DMHIs, including co-design with older adults, content adaptation, gamification, stakeholder involvement, and privacy and data security. Further research is needed to evaluate these considerations for real-world settings.