Abstract

Background: The widespread use of INTERNET by adolescents, renders it a simple and accessible means for health care campaigns Aim: To perform a systematic review of ISI publications about INTERNET use for adolescent mental health prevention, detection, treatment or follow up. Material and Methods: Systematic reviews, meta analyses and controlled clinical trials in all languages were searched. Manuscripts without an abstract or only publishing the study design were excluded. All selected articles were critically read. Results: One hundred and five papers were found and 61 were excluded because they did not address the research question. Of the resting 44, only six complied with the search criteria among then, 3 articles correspond to systematic reviews addressing early intervention programs and mental hearth treatment based on Internet; the other 3 articles correspond to controlled clinical trials addressing treatment interventions of anxiety and depression and I address on depression prevention program. Conclusions: INTERNET facilitates the application of mental health promotion, prevention and intervention among adolescents. However the resource is still underused.