Executive Summary
During adolescence, individuals start the transition from childhood to adulthood. It is a critical stage of human development, yet vast numbers of children experience mental health and psychosocial distress during this period. Many of the world’s 35 million displaced and stateless children1 have experienced particularly significant social and emotional disruption; including exposure to difficult living conditions, traumatic experiences, separation from or loss of family members, interrupted education, and lack of healthcare.2 3 These experiences are known to have adverse effects on mental health however only a tiny percentage of displaced and stateless adolescents can access Mental Health and Psychosocial Support (MHPSS) services.
Traditional face-to-face approaches have been unsuccessful at delivering MHPSS at the necessary scale, in part due to insufficient human and financial resources. The global rise in digital connectivity -- largely spurred by the COVDI-19 pandemic -- has given rise to increasing opportunities to explore digital approaches to adolescent MHPSS in forced displacement contexts. Emerging evidence suggests that some digital MHPSS approaches and interventions, if designed in ways that consider context, nuance, stage of displacement, and factors such as inclusion, gender, equity, uptake, and safety; could help extend MHPSS programming to more adolescents.
At the same time, negative effects of digital technology – especially social media and internet use – on children and adolescents and their mental health need to be mitigated to avoid further worsening the situation.4 Critical concerns about surveillance, data privacy, and data misuse or mishandling, the effects of which can be especially grave for displaced and stateless populations, need to be addressed.
In this paper, we explore how digital approaches and interventions could be safely and feasibly incorporated into the different layers of the World Health Organization’s MHPSS Pyramid (used by a majority of humanitarian organizations to frame their MHPSS work). Based on this exploration, we suggest an adapted MHPSS Pyramid that includes potential digital interventions with some of their benefits and drawbacks for adolescents in forced displacement contexts.
We also provide a summary of the existing evidence base and inputs from UNHCR staff to lay out the case and the caveats for digital MHPSS for forcibly displaced and stateless adolescents. This leads us to a set of core insights into the key benefits of digital MHPSS at the different levels of the MHPSS Pyramid alongside the barriers, limitations, and risks.
Following the exploration of these benefits and challenges, we highlight good practices for designing and implementing digital MHPSS programming with forcibly displaced and stateless adolescents and make recommendations for further action by UNHCR at strategic, advocacy, policy, monitoring, evaluation, research, operational, and guidance levels. Rounding off the report is a checklist for practitioners to follow when designing and implementing digital MHPSS approaches and interventions. © UNHCR/Antoine Tardy