Determinants that impact the use of social media for mental health promotion amongst young people: A scoping review protocol

Background Adolescence is a period of transition in which young people undergo physical, psychological and social changes. While most move through this transition with few problems, others experience greater difficulties, which may lead to an increased risk of becoming vulnerable to mental health issues. Social media use amongst young people is high; an abundance of literature identifies the deleterious impact of its use on mental health. However, its positive influence on youth well-being is also reported. Ireland’s mental health policy recommends harnessing the positive role social media can play in the promotion of youth mental health. However, an evidence gap exists as to how this can be implemented. This scoping review aims to identify the barriers and enablers to the use of social media as a youth mental health promotion tool, to inform the implementation of policy recommendations. Methods The search strategy, screening, extraction and synthesis will be informed by the JBI guidelines. The Consolidated Framework for Implementation Research will guide the identification and mapping of implementation determinants. The review outcomes will be reported using the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analysis extension for Scoping Reviews guidelines. Primary studies focused on young people and key stakeholders, such as teachers and parents, identifying barriers and enablers to the use of social media for youth mental health promotion will be included. A librarian-developed search strategy will be applied to the Web of Science Core Collection, Medline (EBSCO), Embase, PsycINFO and CINAHL databases. A narrative synthesis of the results guided by CFIR framework will be presented. Conclusion The review extends the work of previous reviews by adopting an Implementation Science approach focusing on the identification and mapping of implementation barriers and enablers to the use of social media as a youth mental health promotion tool. Registration Open Science Framework (<ext-link xmlns:ns4="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink" ext-link-type="uri" ns4:href="https://doi.org/10.17605/OSF.IO/T5YF7M">https://doi.org/10.17605/OSF.IO/T5YF7M</ext-link>)