Shaping Digital Mental Health in Schools

Project outline

UK secondary schools are responding to growing levels of mental health need among young people. At the same time, pressures on funding and services can make it difficult for schools to provide timely, face-to-face support. Digital mental health tools, such as apps, are increasingly being considered as one way to expand the support available to students.

But how do schools decide which digital mental health tools to use, and who gets a say in those decisions?

Schools can choose from thousands of digital mental health products. While national guidance and frameworks for assessing digital tools are beginning to develop, we still know relatively little about how schools or Multi Agency Trusts (MATs) make these choices in practice. This includes what evidence they consider, what matters to them, what challenges they face, and how ethics shape their decisions.

We also know little about the role young people themselves play in these decisions. Students are the intended users of many of these technologies, but their perspectives may not always be included when tools are selected for schools. Understanding how young people can be meaningfully involved is particularly important if digital mental health support is to be acceptable, useful and equitable.

What does the research do?

This project investigates how UK secondary schools and MATs make decisions about adopting digital mental health technologies and how these processes could be improved.

The research has three parts.

• First, we work with secondary schools and develop case studies to understand how decisions about digital mental health tools happen in practice, including who is involved and what factors influence the choices schools make.
• Second, we work with young people to explore what meaningful involvement in these decisions should look like and develop practical approaches that schools could use to include students in decision-making.
• Third, we interview policymakers to understand how decisions made within individual schools connect with wider national priorities and policies around education, mental health and digital technology.

Why does it matter?

Knowing whether a digital mental health tool works is only part of the picture. This project examines how schools choose and adopt digital mental health technologies, who shapes these decisions, and how young people are involved.

The research identifies good practice and barriers to inclusive decision-making, and explores how school-level decisions connect with wider policy on education, technology and mental health.

The project aims to support more informed, inclusive and equitable approaches to digital mental health in schools, while laying the foundations for future research on inequalities in access and outcomes.