Program Reviews

Supporting our Valued Adolescents (SOVA)

Program Overview

Supporting our Valued Adolescents (SOVA) is a web-based platform that provides educational materials for adolescents with depression and/or anxiety and their parents.

SOVA uses a three-pronged approach with its daily blog and social media posts. Posts challenge health beliefs, promote peer support, and facilitate parent-adolescent discussions around mental health. Each post is generated by a SOVA team member or a SOVA Peer Ambassador and adheres to the following schedule: Monday – positive posts, Tuesday and Wednesday – psychoeducational posts that target negative health beliefs, Thursday – social media education posts, Friday – existing resources. Posts made to the website are accessed by adolescent users only. Posts with a corresponding theme are uploaded daily to a separate website for parents to facilitate parent-child communication. Each post contains threaded discussion board features where the SOVA community can communicate with their peers (parents or adolescents). Investigators testing SOVA have assessed the priamry outcome of increased use of depression and/or anxiety mental health services.

Link to commercial site here

https://sova.pitt.edu

Last Updated 12/15/2023

Delivery:
Web-based
Mobile App

Theoretical Approach(es):
Anderson behavioral model

Target Substance:
None

Target Conditions:
Depression/Anxiety

Target Outcome:
Mental health service use
Mental health literacy
Social support

Ages:
Adolescents (12-18)
Young Adults (18-21)

Genders:
Male
Female
Transgender
Non-Binary

Races/Ethnicities:
White
Black
Asian
North American Native
> 1 race

Ethnicity
Hispanic

Setting:
Urban/Suburban

Geographic Location
United States of America

Language
English

Index Study Publication Date
October 7, 2022

Evaluations

  • Study Design: RCT

    Study Type: Efficacy/Effectiveness

    Sample Size: N = 38 adolescents (26 parents*)
    *parents utilized parent only portal and were not included in outcome measures

    Demographics:

    Age
    Adolescents: 12-19 (Mean = 16.1, SEM = 1.6)

    Gender
    Female: 67%
    Male: 0%
    Transgender: 11%
    Non-Binary+: 22%

    Race
    White: 72%
    Black: 6%
    Asian: 0%
    American Indian or Alaska Native: 0%
    >1 race: 22%

    Ethnicity
    Hispanic: 0%

  • Study Design: Preparatory

    Study Type: Feasibility/Usability/Acceptability

    Sample Size: N = 96

    Demographics:

    Age
    14-26 (Mean = 23)

    Gender
    Female: 75%
    Male: 22%
    Non-Binary+: 3%

    Race
    White: 67%
    Black: 15%
    Asian/Pacific Islander: 12%
    North American Native: 1%
    Don’t want to answer: 2%

    Ethnicity
    Hispanic: 7%

  • A social media website (supporting our valued adolescents) to support treatment uptake for adolescents with depression and/or anxiety and their parents: Protocol for a pilot randomized controlled trial. Radovic A, Li Y, Landsittel D, Stein BD, Miller E. JMIR Research Protocols. 2019. 8(1):e12117.

    Role of moderators on engagement of adolescents with depression or anxiety in a social media intervention: Content analysis of web-based interactions. Windler C, Clair M, Long C, Boyle L, Radovic A. JMIR Mental Health. 2019. 6(9):e13467.

    Prescribing Technology to Increase Uptake of Depression Treatment in Primary Care: A Pre-implementation Focus Group Study of SOVA (Supporting Our Valued Adolescents). Radovic A, Odenthal K, Flores AT, Miller E, Stein BD. Journal of Clinical Psychology in Medical Settings. 2020. 27(4):766-782.

    Young people’s advisory groups in health research: scoping review and mapping of practices. Sellars E, Pavarini G, Michelson D, Creswell C, Fazel M. Archives of Disease in Childhood. 2021. 106(7):698-704.

    Experience of peer bloggers using a social media website for adolescents with depression or anxiety: Proof-of-concept study. Karim S, Hsiung K, Symonds M, Radovic A. JMIR Formative Research. 2021. 5(7):e26183.

    Characteristics of mobile health platforms for depression and anxiety: Content analysis through a systematic review of the literature and systematic search of two app stores. Leong QY, Sridhar S, Blasiak A, Tadeo X, Yeo GH, Remus A, Ho D. Journal of Medical Internet Research. 2022. 24(2):e27388.

    Digital technologies to support adolescents with depression and anxiety: review. Bevan Jones R, Hussain F, Agha SS, Weavers B, Lucassen M, Merry S, Stallard P, Simpson S, Rice F,. BJPsych Advances. 2023. 29(4):239-253.