# Implementing a Digital Adolescent Behavioral Health Screening, Literacy, and Low-Intensity Intervention for Common Adolescent Mental Health Problems in Kenya

> **NIH NIH R21** · NEW YORK UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF MEDICINE · 2022 · $182,204

## Abstract

ABSTRACT
The burden mental, neurological, and substance (MNS) disorders in low-and middle-income countries (LMICs)
is tremendous, but solutions for addressing the MNS burden remain limited in global adolescent mental health
research. The rapid growth and widespread use of technology has the potential to address MNS burden by
offering new solutions for transforming services; however, e-Health has not been systematically studied for
preventive mental health intervention in LMICs. This proposed two-phase R21/R33 study seeks to respond to
the growing burden of adolescent MNS disorders and urgent preventive service needs in LMIC by testing
usability, feasibility (R21 phase) and effectiveness (R33 phase) of a mHealth intervention, mHealth Toolkit for
Screening & Empowering Lives of Youth (mSELY), to promote adolescent mental health in Kenya. The
mSELY is a preventive intervention tool to be used by adolescents and/or their caregivers as a self-help
support modality. The mSELY-A is designed for adolescents and mSELY-P is designed for parents/caregivers.
The mSELY integrates 4 key mental health service functions: i) comprehensive screening for adolescent
social-emotional/mental health and relevant risks (in multiple RDoC domains); ii) a strength and weakness
profile for an adolescent’s behaviors; iii) tailored mental health literacy and promotion strategies, and iv)
tailored referral resources. To promote accessibility and to have broader reach, the mSELY will be embedded
in diverse community based organizations (CBOs) that already provide services to adolescents. In addition, a
youth empowerment approach of task-shifting will be applied to train a team of adolescent-peer-community-
health workers (A-CHWs) to support the mSELY implementation. This project is conceptualized within the
Social Action Theory, mHealth/Technology Acceptance Model, and Implementation Outcomes Framework.
The specific aims are: (1) to build research and service capacity for digital and public health approaches of
adolescent mental health promotion; (2) to employ a user-centered design to test and enhance usability of the
mSELY-A and P (in R21 Year 1) and to test feasibility and efficacy of mSELY-A alone, mSELY-P alone, and
combination of mSELY-A + P in youth-served CBOs; (3) to test the effectiveness of the optimized versions of
mSELY-A and P using a cluster-randomized control trial (cRCT); and 4) to disseminate and explore big data
analytic approaches using the Toolkit data to improve Digital-Toolkit decision support functions and accuracy
of mental health precision care.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10459507
- **Project number:** 5R21MH124149-02
- **Recipient organization:** NEW YORK UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF MEDICINE
- **Principal Investigator:** Keng-Yen Huang
- **Activity code:** R21 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2022
- **Award amount:** $182,204
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2021-08-01 → 2023-07-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10459507

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10459507, Implementing a Digital Adolescent Behavioral Health Screening, Literacy, and Low-Intensity Intervention for Common Adolescent Mental Health Problems in Kenya (5R21MH124149-02). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-23 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10459507. Licensed CC0.

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