REVIEW article
Front. Digit. Health
Sec. Digital Mental Health
This article is part of the Research TopicWell-being and Cognitive Science in Higher Education: Measures and InterventionView all 14 articles
Digital mental health interventions for Chinese university students: a narrative review of trends, efficacy, and future directions
Provisionally accepted
- 1Shanxi University, Taiyuan, China
- 2Shanghai Jiazhuo Health Co., LTD., Shanghai, China
- 3Li Baoyou’s Klinik, Maribo, Denmark
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University students in China face growing mental health challenges driven by academic pressure, stigma, and limited access to support. In response, digital mental health interventions (DMHIs) are gaining attention as scalable, flexible tools. This narrative review synthesizes peer-reviewed literature on DMHIs for Chinese university students, drawing from six major databases (PubMed, PsycArticles, Scopus, ERIC, CNKI, and Wanfang). It analyzes the evolution, types, and effectiveness of DMHIs for Chinese university students, while evaluating their alignment with three theoretical frameworks: the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM), the Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology (UTAUT), and the Persuasive Systems Design model (PSD). Fourteen empirically evaluated interventions were coded using an a priori rubric mapped to constructs from these frameworks to identify cross-study patterns in adoption and engagement. Although the frameworks provide complementary perspectives on technology adoption and sustained user engagement, they remain underutilized in the design and evaluation of DMHIs targeting this population. Cultural factors such as collectivism, mental health stigma, and trust in institutions further shape user behavior, but are often overlooked in intervention design. The review concludes with recommendations for developing culturally informed, 2 theoretically grounded DMHIs to support scalable mental health solutions for Chinese university students and comparable contexts globally.
Keywords: digital mental health interventions, university students, China, Technology Adoption, TAM, UTAUT, PSD, cultural adaptation
Received: 09 Jul 2025; Accepted: 17 Nov 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Guo and Yan. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Xuan Guo, researcher.guo@gmail.com
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