Technology and Mental Health for Children and Adolescents

15 Hours | 15 CEs

This on-demand professional training program on Technology and Mental Health for Children and Adolescents: Screen Time, Digital Interventions and Teletherapy is presented by Eduardo Bunge, Ph.D., and Blanca Pineda, Ph.D. This badge-earning program can be shared digitally on platforms like LinkedIn or your resume and counts towards a certificate. Enroll in this program to earn credit towards Foundations of Digital Mental Health Certificate and share your new digital credentials with prospective employers and colleagues.

With the rise of new technologies, our society is being transformed, and children and adolescents will be affected both positively and negatively by these technologies. Clinicians working with children and adolescents often advise parents on what to do with their children's technology use (e.g., screen time, cyberbullying, video games, etc). Developing a science-based view of the impact of the new Information and Communication Technologies on children and adolescents' development could help clinicians provide better recommendations for parents. Additionally, technologies can be specifically designed to treat and prevent mental health disorders in children and adolescents.

Even more, Behavioral Intervention Technologies (BITs) may have the capacity to expand delivery models and/or increase the outcomes of therapy. BITs are defined as mobile and electronic interventions that incorporate a variety of technologies, such as mobile phones, the Internet, and virtual reality, in order to assist users in altering behaviors and cognitions related to mental and physical health wellness (Mohr, Schueller, Montague, Burns, Rashidi, 2014). Emphasis will be placed on treatments designed to be effective with the most commonly occurring pediatric and adolescent health conditions and mental disorders. New professionals trained for the future of mental health care will be required to be familiarized with the evidence for and utilization of BITs such as virtual reality, artificial intelligence, Internet interventions, mobile health, wearables, etc. Finally, there is a need to deliver therapy through videoconference (Teletherapy). Conducting teletherapy sessions is both challenging and provides new opportunities. A set of considerations and recommendations on how to conduct teletherapy will be presented.