Advancing adolescent health promotion in the digital era.

Abstract

Adolescents globally are calling for high-quality digital services to support and improve their health and well-being. Digital technologies are playing an increasing role in healthcare and whilst today's adolescents have been exposed to digital media since birth, there are unique challenges to their use that must be considered. This review aims to synthesize the literature on adolescent health promotion in the digital era. It provides evidence from adolescent perspectives and identifies that community-based and 'digital only' settings hold scope for further research to advance the field. The article recommends that when working with adolescents to develop digital health promotion tools, we should look to use youth engagement frameworks that are relevant to their context. Secondly, it demands stronger governance over digital media to protect adolescents, whilst allowing safe digital access. Finally, it demonstrates how listening to adolescents may help to address the emerging digital determinants of health and avoid exacerbating health disparities. Adolescents are powerful advocates to make global change. Stakeholders across research, policy and practice should examine how they incorporate adolescent voices to drive change in health promotion in the digital era.