Boosting Societal Adaptation and Mental Health in a Rapidly Digitalizing, Post-Pandemic Europe

BACKGROUND: Adolescents are at particularly high risk for digital technology overuse, including in response to the COVID pandemic, and are therefore vulnerable for its potential harmful effects on mental health. Problematic usage of the internet (PUI) is thought to represent a marker of disrupted self-management, with major consequences for individual and societal health and wellbeing.

AIM: BootStRaP brings together a multidisciplinary consortium aiming to initiate health and social policy and practice change designed to reduce the harmful effects of digitalization on mental health, particularly for young people.

APPROACH: We will co-create a digital screening and assessment platform to understand which individuals are at-risk for developing PUI. Algorithm-based models will be used to predict which individuals will benefit from which type of self-management intervention, and these preventative behavioral interventions will be tested for their (cost)effectiveness. Finally, we will develop a policy toolkit in co-design with stakeholders, to promote human digital rights accountability at the local, national, and European level. IMPACT: BootStRaP will provide unprecedented scientific knowledge on the psychological mechanisms underlying (risk for) PUI and potential interventions. Improved self-management and tools to optimize healthy internet usage will promote mental health and prevent mental ill health in adolescents, and contribute to reducing stigma. In addition, our policy toolkit will empower policy makers and private companies to (self)regulate with the intent to protect vulnerable groups. In the long run, BootStRaP will thus contribute to improving mental wellbeing across Europe and beyond.

The BootStRaP’s vision is that health and social policy and practice change should be geared towards 1) improving self-management of internet use and 2) investigating existing and developing new policy options to minimize digitalization-related harms, including greater corporate responsibility, re-evaluation of business models steering digital services provision, and potential for regulation. We deem it essential that the beneficial vs. harmful effects of digitalization on mental health and wellbeing among young people are strengthened and stigma and marginalization are reduced.

PROJECT PARTNERS

• INSTITUT CATALA DE LA SALUT
• FUNDACIO INSTITUT D’INVESTIGACIO BIOMEDICA DE BELLVITGE
• UNIVERSITAET DUISBURG-ESSEN (UDE)
• EOTVOS LORAND TUDOMANYEGYETEM (ELTE)
• UNIVERSIDADE DO PORTO (UPORTO)
• REICHMAN UNIVERSITY (IDC)
• MEDICAL RESEARCH INFRASTRUCTURE DEVELOPMENT AND HEALTH SERVICES FUND BY THE SHEBA MEDICAL CENTER (SHEBA)
• ZENTRUM FUER INTEGRATIVE PSYHIATRIE (ZIP)
• UNIVERSITAET zu LUEBECK
• TALLINN UNIVERSITY (TLU)
• LIETUVOS SVEIKATOS MOKSLU UNIVERSITETAS
• UNIVERSITAET ULM (UULM)
• STICHTING VU (VUA)
• FUNDACION PARA LA INVESTIGACION BIOMEDICA DEL HOSPITAL GREGORIO MARANON (FIBHGM)
• CENTRE HOSPITALIER UNIVERSITAIRE MONTPELLIER (CHUM)
• CENTRO DI NEUROLOGIA PSICHIATRIA E PSICOLOGIA CLINICA SRL (IdN)
• QUEENSLAND INSTITUTE OF MEDICAL RESEARCH
• RUPRECHT-KARLS-UNIVERSITAET HEIDELBERG
• UNIVERSITAT ZURICH
• UNIVERSITY OF GIBRALTAR
• UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHAMPTON
• THE CHANCELLOR MASTERS AND SCHOLARS OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CAMBRIDGE
• EURO YOUTH MENTAL HEALTH CIC
• THE UNIVERSITY OF HERTFORDSHIRE HIGHER EDUCATION CORPORATION